Last Sacrifice Blood Lust
by BelleCeline
Summary: With her trial looming near, Rose is in a race against time to find the other Dragomir. And unless she can convince the court that she didn't kill the queen, she will be executed.
1. Chapter 1

As a guardian, I have found myself in countless perilous situations. Any time I have ever faced strigoi, there has been a possibility that I would die. This was always something that I could accept, because it was my job to protect moroi. If that meant getting rid of strigoi at the risk of my own life, I would do it, because they come first. All the times I thought I was going to die aren't even as terrifying as this.

I thought I was going to die once, back in Russia. Dimitri had been so fast and strong, so intent on changing me… or killing me… that my death was imminent. That was not really Dimitri in Russia, for he was a strigoi, and that was what made the situation, and my fear, all the more real. Even when I'd been captured by strigoi with Eddie, Mason, Christian, and Mia, our deaths were obviously close. Mason may have been the only of us to die, but we had all come precariously close to death. And yet I had never felt as doomed as I did now.

The molnija marks on my neck are meant to be a badge of honor. They scream to the world that Rose Hathaway has taken down countless Strigoi, even fresh out of St. Vladimirs as I am. And yet, those very same tattoos mark me as a loose cannon, as dangerous and wild. Those molnija marks are a cruel reminder of how I played a part in changing the age decree, how I lowered the guardian graduation standard to 16. And the age decree is what got me in trouble in the first place. Had I managed to keep my temper under control, rather than scream blasphemous insults at the queen in royal court, I would not be in this situation at all.

Or perhaps I would. I want to blame myself a little bit for my circumstances, because I cannot come to terms with the fact that somebody has set me up so masterfully, that somebody is controlling me. I hate the idea that I am somebody's scapegoat, and so it is almost easier for me to accept that maybe I did do something to warrant this speculation. Not that I think I should be implicated in the murder of Queen Tatiana. That much I know for sure.

The queen was manipulative and cold, but her final letter to me has left me thinking. She knew that somebody was coming after her; She knew that her life was just about over. And yet rather than have her guard tightened, she wrote me a final letter. Of all people, Tatiana wrote to me. She claimed that the age decree was a better alternative then what some may have suggested, like putting all dhampirs into service. Perhaps that was good enough to warrant some respect for her.

My thoughts turned to Ambrose. He and the late queen had been close, with some speculation that they were romantically linked, a thought which always made me shiver. Ambrose was one of the few dhampir who chose to forego his guardian duties, and, instead, chose to work at court. Female dhampirs who refused their duties of guardianship were more often than not leaving to enjoy a life of vampire endorphins, a life of pleasure that earned them the term blood whore. It was something I would have cringed at even six months ago, because by our standards it was the lowest of the low, except for willingly turning strigoi. But when Dimitri in his strigoi form had captured me, I had been more than content to live in a world in which I was drugged up on his endorphins, content to wear the jewelry and dresses he brought me, blissfully ignorant of the bruises on my neck. It was all part of his plan to keep me weak of course, and it would have worked, if it weren't for Adrian visiting me in my dream and noticing the bruises.

That was another pressing issue. Dimitri. When he had been locked up in the court's holding cells (the very same one I was in, as fate would allow) while everyone tried to figure out whether he was still a strigoi or whether he had indeed returned to his dhampir form, he had told his guards that I should not be allowed in to see him. I had thought to say the same thing of him, but I neglected to. Not that it mattered anyways, because two days have passed in which I have been locked up in this room. As far as I know, Dimitri has not even tried to visit me. His absence would have given me much to think about, except Lissa and Adrian never left me alone.

Between slipping into my best friend's head through our shadow kissed bond and meeting up with Adrian in my dreams, I was never really alone. Besides, the five guards outside my cell made sure of that.

The first day I hadn't been allowed visitors, but this morning Mikhail had come to tell me that they would allow me guests if I elected to have some. But who did I want to see?

The obvious choice was Lissa. She needed to be informed about what the queen had told me, about Lissa having a half brother or sister. Lissa needed to know that another Dragomir lived, which would mean she could have her place in the court, thanks to the new balance in the quorum. But I still did not understand what I should tell her. I could tell her about what the man had said in Las Vegas, about how Eric Dragomir liked the ladies, how he visited often. But no, I decided, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. And I could tell her about the records that had been stolen from the alchemists, but I still didn't know what those files contained. Though I knew she was dying to see me, I was not ready for Lissa.

I wanted to tell Adrian, but the queens words haunted me. I was supposed to share this secret with as few people as possible. I hated to keep secrets from Adrian, especially after we had promised to be honest with one another, but I could not share this information with him yet. And so, I thought of who else I could tell.

I longed to tell Dimitri, but I was still so full of spite. While I was under the impression that he was no longer in the limelight thanks to my charges of murder, he still wouldn't be able to do much. I would have gone to him any time before now. I would have run to him and told him everything. But now… _Love fades. Mine has. _Though he had hurt me because he no longer loved me, I felt a divine instinct to protect him, much like the one that had caused him to protect me when the queen's guard had shown up at the cafe to arrest me. I could not ask him to get in trouble for me. No, I would not ask to see Dimitri.

The words came out of my mouth before I even processed them, and I was surprised to hear with my own ears who I had asked to see. I looked at Mikhail, and I think he too could sense my surprise. "I want to see Christian Ozera."

Getting Christian away from Lissa was going to be no easy task. I slipped into Lissa's head when Mikhail left with my orders to find Christian. I was surprised to find that they were not together. Instead, Lissa was with Adrian. And, I realized with a lurch of the stomach, Dimitri. Oh God.

"How could anybody have gotten her stake?" Adrian wondered out loud. They were sitting in Lissa's room. Well, Lissa and Adrian were sitting. Dimitri stood against the wall in typical guardian stance, as if he were guarding these two moroi on a lunch date. Even safe within the wards of the court, and in Lissa's room, he looked like he was slightly on edge. A swift, sidelong glance at Adrian confirmed my thoughts. He was unnerved by Adrian's presence.

"Easily." Dimitri said calmly. "At court we are protected by wards. We never have any fear of them being crossed. With wards and guardians, it would seem we do not need that extra measure of security. It would be very easy to break into a room." Adrian looked at him mildly, but did not seem to resent his presence.

"But why?" Lissa asked. I noticed her for the first time since being in her head, and it was like she had been crying. She was drained and exhausted, feeling similar to the way she had after she had staked Dimitri and freed him from his Strigoi state.

"So that it would direct all suspicion to Rose." This time it was Adrian who had the answer. "If all the fingers are pointing the other way, it would be much easier to get away with murder."

Lissa looked at him in shock. "Are you implying that the queen's murderer might still be on the grounds?" It was not that the thought hadn't occurred to her already. But voicing the idea was much more brazen.

"We know it wasn't a Strigoi." Said Dimitri.

"How can we be sure?" Asked Lissa. "Maybe a human broke the wards and there are strigoi waiting to descend upon us."

"Even if that were true, which I highly doubt, strigoi can't touch stakes." Lissa looked at Adrian in a new light. She had known that, of course. It was common knowledge that stakes and wards were both charged with the four magical elements that moroi could control, with spirit being the only one not included since it was still widely unheard of. Lissa's mind was just a little further back, hanging onto something Dimitri had said. She looked at him slowly, as though confused by something.

"You said it would be very easy to break into one of these rooms?"

"With the proper equipment."

"But not the queens, surely." Lissa said, playing into his game.

"Of course not. They wouldn't let just anybody in the room." Adrian said dismissively. He looked slightly offended that Lissa might be implying Tatiana hadn't been careful enough in choosing her guard.

"Which means it was somebody the queen knew." Said Dimitri drily. The thought of a traitor on that level was something that struck a chord with his guardian instincts, and with his loyalty to the crown.

"Not necessarily." Said Lissa quietly. Her mind was reeling. Dimitri looked confused, and it was so out of place on that God-like face that I felt momentarily surprised.

"But you've just said it yourself; the queen's guards wouldn't let anybody in unless they had Queen Tatiana's permission, or if they knew them well enough, like another royal." Lissa looked at him dead-pan, and Dimitri nearly scoffed at what she was suggesting.

"You suspect another royal killed the queen?"

"It's possible. Maybe somebody wanted to advance their own gain. It's not an unheard of idea or anything. Power can corrupt people."

"Even if it was a royal," Dimitri's tone left no room for doubt that he thought otherwise, they wouldn't just be let in without a guard. Only an Ivashkov would." He glanced at Adrian apologetically.

Adrian had been quiet and I had almost forgotten his presence. He didn't seem to hear what Dimitri had said.

"Well, it certainly wasn't an Ivashkov." Lissa said certainly. Though she had never met Adrian's father, she was definitely right. Nathan had cowered in his aunt's presence.

"Who would be dumb enough to kill the queen?" Dimitri muttered to himself. "It's a kamikaze mission. Suicide."

"Unless you aren't planning on getting caught, because you aren't the one who really did it." Both Lissa and Dimitri looked at Adrian in confusion.

"Are you talking about Rose?"

"No. " Adrian said dismissively, waving his hand. "I heard Damon Tarus saying how convenient it was for the guards not to remember anything about the night."

"You think the guards are responsible?" Now Dimitri looked mad. He took personal offense against the comment. I too felt indignant.

"No. I think the guardians were compelled."

Dimitri calmed visibly, but it was his turn to be dismissive. "Guardians can't be that easily compelled. Not the queen's guardians. They are specifically trained to control their mind under compulsion. Besides, it would take strong compulsion. Nobody is capable of enough compulsion to control all of the queen's guardians at once."

"Yes, they are." Adrian was looking at Lissa. Dimitri's face crumpled, and I think he would have laughed if the situation had not been so perilous.

"Princess Vasilisa Dragomir? You think she did it."

Adrian looked at Dimitri like he was an idiot. "No," he said coolly. "Of course she didn't do it. But she is capable of doing it."

I could feel Lissa's confusion through the bond. She was capable of some heavy duty compulsion…she had lots of practice. After all, she had broken three of us into Tarasov prison, and broken another person out. And with that knowledge, she grew cold. She had used a very hefty sum of compulsion to break Victor Dashkov out of prison…an amount of compulsion that was unprecedented in most Moroi. It was an amount of compulsion that only a spirit user could wield.

The connection sparked in her mind at the same time that the answer flooded into me. Lissa looked up at Adrian. She didn't need to speak, because he could tell from that single look that she understood. But shock numbed her mind, along with the realization that perhaps she was responsible for the queen's death, if only inadvertently. "Robert."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I nearly forgot the disclaimer. As I am sure most of you know, I do not claim the rights to any of these characters. Rose and her friends and the entire Vampire Academy world are the property of Richelle Mead. It is by her kindness and generosity that I am able to post my own imaginings with her characters. That said, I hope you enjoy this new chapter. Now that I'm terrified to disappoint. :) Feedback is appreciated. Good, bad, whatever.**

Robert was not the threat here of course. Not by Lissa's or my estimation. The thing was that we knew of very few spirit users. There was St. Vladimir, who was long since dead. Oksana, the gentle woman I had met in Russia. Avery, whose brain had been fried when her shadow kissed connections back-fired on her after her attempt to turn Lissa into her minion. And of course, there was Lissa and Adrian. Lissa herself could never hurt a fly, except for the time she had punched Reed Lazar under my guidance, but even then that had been self defense. And Adrian was the late queen's favorite nephew. Queen Tatiana's murder must have bothered him more than he let on. The only other spirit user we knew of was Robert...Victor Dashkov's illegitimate half brother, who we had last seen in Las Vegas. Since Robert was pretty much devoted to Victor, it was highly possible that the two had come up with some convoluted scheme to kill the queen.

This news was bone chilling and slightly maddening. I had been responsible for breaking Victor out of prison and leading him to Robert, even if I had not done as much work as Lissa had. Though Lissa had used her compulsion to get us in and out of the prison and to distribute people once we were in, it had been I who had organized the prison break. It was because I broke Victor out of prison that Robert had revealed to us how to restore a strigoi to their previous entity. It was for that reason that when Lissa and Christian went to Lehigh, they had tricked her guardians into teaching them to use a stake. With that knowledge, Lissa had been able to use her spirit infused stake to turn Dimitri back into a dhampir.

The plan had not been for Robert and Victor to get loose from us, obviously. I had intended to use Victor shamelessly, just as he had done when he kidnapped Lissa. I was going to return him to Tarasov prison after we had gotten the information that we needed from Robert. However, when we were at the hotel we were jumped by a party of strigoi...Dimitri's party, to be exact. Eddie and I had assumed our guardian instincts and fought them off to the best of our ability. Lissa and Adrian escaped safely. And apparently so did Victor and Robert, because in the scuffle of the battle we lost them. And though the knowledge that they had escaped from us was miserable and depressing, I hadn't really considered what would become of them. Upon returning to court there was the obvious panic over Victor's escape from Tarasov, but after getting swept up in court life, I had almost forgotten about what I had done. Everything happened so quickly, one after another, that I pushed all thoughts of Victor out of my mind. Even if I had had the time to think of what I had done, I certainly would not have considered this. Victor Dashkov...or Robert...had killed the queen and framed me for it.

I could not, of course, regret breaking Victor out of prison. Doing so had been my only hope of saving Dimitri, and it had worked. I had him back, never mind that he claimed he did not love me anymore. Never mind that being a strigoi may have hardened his hard to the point where he wasn't capable of love. He was here, a dhampir again, because of Lissa's and my efforts. That's all that was important.

Yet I could not shake the knowledge that my actions had led to this. I broke victor out of prison, only to end up in prison myself. The knowledge was far beyond frustrating. But I would have to brood over my actions later, because shortly after I left Lissa's mind, Mikhail arrived with Christian in tow.

"Rose." Christian said, coming to the bars. He had probably spent the entire walk here trying to come up with some snarky comment. Either nothing had come to mind, or else the reality of the situation made him forget to sound superior. I'm not sure whether one of his sarcastic comments would have served to frustrate me, or if it would have provided a measure of comfort. However, Christian simply looked at me through the bars, a look in his eyes that i was unaccustomed to. Pity.

"You know I didn't do it." I said. It was a statement, rather than a question. Christian and I thought along the same lines most of the time, even though that was scary to admit. He too could see that the set up had been too perfect; leaving my stake in the queen's chest. A real criminal mastermind, like the way Sydney made me out to be, would never have left the stake there. They would have hidden it in a not-too-hard-to-find spot. Besides that, Christian was my friend. Though he swore I was crazy, he knew me better than to think I would kill the queen.

"Of course I know that. You are not a murderer."

"No. But I am a dead woman walking unless you can help me." Christian looked surprised by my revelation. I guess he had expected that I would stay strong. But right now, I was not going to put up a front. Christian would have seen through any facade I tried anyways.

"When Lissa, Eddie, and I went to Las Vegas, we split up. Adrian and I were in the casino of the Witching Hour while Lissa and Eddie went to book our return flight. When we were there, we met the manager. He let it slip that Eric Dragomir-"

"Lissa's father." Christian said automatically. I don't think he meant to interrupt me; the use of the name had probably been so unexpected that he had to have that clarification. I nodded.

"He said that Lissa's father was a repeat customer. He implied that Eric liked to party, particular in the company of women." I paused to let him sort that through in his head, but he had not known Lissa's family. Believing Eric Dragomir capable of infidelity was probably not a stretch of Christian's imagination. "And then I received some notice from a friend that some alchemist records were stolen. Paper records of course. And guess who they were on."

Christian didn't need to say it, because he could tell. But he did not understand why. "Who would steel information about the dead? Whatever he did is done now. There's no point in scandalizing his memory."

"Maybe that's not why the records were stolen in the first place. Maybe whoever stole them was trying to prevent a scandal."

"I guess that's possible." He thought it over a moment. "Depending on what type of information was stolen."

"Everything. Apparently the alchemists have records of everything. It was mostly financial information regarding large deposits into a bank account." Christian didn't react to that, and so I decided to elaborate. "A bank account in Las Vegas. In a woman's name."

"What woman?" Christian asked, suspicious.

"Jane Doe. There was no name on the account, at least not that the alchemists could find. And the alchemists can find a lot out about anything." I decided not to tell him that they could possibly be spying on us right now. The alchemists were not talked about too much. In fact, I had not really even known about them until I had met one in Russia. The conversation about the alchemists was one that was best suited for another day.

"Do you think he had another wife?" The idea kind of surprised me. In fact, I think I was surprised that I had not thought of it. But after further thought, I dismissed the idea.

"Not a wife. Not even a girlfriend. I don't think he would have been the type to cheat on his wife." Well, obviously he had cheated on his wife. Or at least, he had according to the queen. Not that the queen had said that. Manipulative though she was, she would have never talked open slander against someone, particularly a dead royal. But He must have cheated on his wife if he had another child, as the queen insisted. And that was the information I needed to share with Christian.

"The queen left me a letter." I said quickly, before considering how to phrase that. I probably should have thought about it though, because the shock on Christian's face was tangible. In any other time or place, I would have laughed.

"The queen?" He repeated, dubious.

"Yes." I reached into my pocket and let my hand close around the letter. It had been burning a hole in my pocket. It was something that I had wanted to share immediately, maybe even as evidence in the court. _See, I didn't kill the queen. She knew someone was after her, and she trusted me enough to send me on a mission. _Yet the reminder that I was supposed to share this secret with as few people as possible kept me from making her trust in me public. I glanced at Mikhail, who was pointedly looking the other way. I slipped the note through the bars and nodded at Christian, indicating that he should read the note right then and there.

His blue eyes flew over the page at lightning speed and he looked up at me grimly. "This could be anyone's handwriting. It's not that hard to forge a signature, particularly when you don't know what her writing looks like." Ah, we did think alike indeed. I had said almost that same exact thing.

"That's what you are going to find out for me." I said quietly. Christian looked up at me as though he had some fiery retort on his tongue, but he let it fizzle out and die, whatever it was.

"Ok. How?"

"You are going to break into the guardians records." Mikhail looked up, suspicious. I looked directly at him. "And you are going to help."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** I hate when writers hold their own story ransom. I will not do that. However, I do love to hear what my readers think, good or bad. I have a very exciting amount of readers that have subscribed to my story, but I would still love the comments from the silent majority of you who are reading this but keeping your opinions to yourself. My readers and commenters make my day :) So please let me know what you think.

The worst part about making Christian and Mikhail break into guardian records was that I had no idea what was going on. Ok, the worst part was that I was risking Mikhail's job and his status with the guardians, and Christian's…what? He didn't really have a reputation to uphold. But if he were to get caught breaking into guardian records for me, it wouldn't help to get the Ozera's the respect they deserved as one of the twelve royal families.

But it was frustrating, not knowing what was going on. If it had been Lissa, I could have just slipped into her head and it would have been just like being there myself. Being shadow kissed had it's perks. Of course, the side effects were not always so pleasant.

I would have been fine if I had just waited on my bed for Mikhail and Christian's return, even if I didn't have any clue what was going on. But instead, I tuned into Lissa's head to see where she was. If I had known where she was, I probably would not have gone into her mind in the first place. But as it was, I was already there and she was at court. Or rather, in the courtroom.

I focused my eyes on what Lissa could see, and noticed it was the empty chair to the side of the courtroom; It was the chair that would be filled by a Dragomir, Lissa, to be exact, had it not been for the quorom. Because Lissa had no other family, she could not take her rightful place in the jury. Archaic laws and actions were golden among the Moroi, as I had found out at the Death Watch. The only way for Lissa to gain that spot on council and fulfill her birthright was to prove that there was another living Dragomir somewhere.

But Lissa was not thinking about that, because she did not know that. Instead, Lissa was thinking of her family. She thought about them often, but she had become quite successful at blocking out the pain that those memories brought her. She used to have nightmares about the wreck…the smell of burning rubber where the tires marked the pavement, the sound of the car crunching as if it were a toy. I almost wanted to pull out of Lissa's mind right then and there, because the memories were just too awful. I had died that night, along with the rest of Lissa's family. Lissa's spirit had brought me back. And however silly it was, I would always feel some guilt at being the one that Lissa brought back.

Had Lissa's father been around, he would have been the person to fill that twelfth chair. As it was, the chair was empty. So was the one next to it, one which had a higher back and sat back a little further than the rest. That was where the queen would sit in most occasions, as most Moroi rulings were presided over by the monarch. A judge had been appointed because the queen wasn't present. If she were, there would be no cause for this…what was this? A hearing? A meeting? Whatever it was, the judge from my hearing-I only knew her as Paula, as that was what Abe had called her-stood at the front of the room.

Lissa forced all the thoughts of death from her mind, thinking how unfair it was that I was not there. After all, this meeting was about me.

When Lissa made that thought known to me, anything I was feeling turned to rage. There was a blind fury building up within me, I could feel it burning away in my heart. I was surprised Lissa could not feel it, even though I knew the bond only served to make her feelings known to me, not the other way around. The judge called everyone to attention and silence descended upon the people in the court.

"We convene today to make the decision on whether the case of Rosemarie Hathaway will go to trial." My fury only began to smolder as she spoke. She was providing me with something to stoke the fire, and it was working. "Today is an open court session. Everybody here will have a chance to make their opinion known, if they so wish." Everybody except me.

I realized that Lissa had come to the trial with Adrian. And on her other side…Dimitri. I was beginning to feel worried that this was going to become a casual thing. Adrian and Dimitri together was a weird concept, and I still couldn't get used to the idea of Dimitri wanting to be with Lissa so much. Whatever had happened when she had destroyed the strigoi in him had caused a bond to form between them. It was nothing like the bond Lissa and I shared, as Strigoi were not dead so they could not become shadow kissed. It was just a deep emotional attachment between them; Dimitri was grateful that she had saved him.

Adrian put a hand on Lissa's shoulder. Lissa recognized what it meant. It was a symbol of his faith in her, of his trust in her strength. She knew what she had to do. I had spent forever protecting her, and now Lissa knew it was time to return the favor. She would stand up for me now, giving a voice to somebody who was unjustly being excluded from this event. She gave Dimitri a swift glance, to which he nodded, a very small gesture. Lissa stood up regally, and all the eyes in the room turned to rest upon her.

The judge nodded at her too, as if she had known Lissa was going to stand up and kick off the comments. As a royal, when Lissa spoke, people listened. But as the last Dragomir, people had a healthy respect for what she had to say. Her friendship with me was sure to be cause for speculation of a bias, which is certainly the truth. She had known me since kindergarten; Hell, she had not just known me, she had been my sister ever since then. "If it pleases the court, your honor, I would like to begin the proceedings."

"You may begin, Princess." The judge said serenely.

I could feel the panic in Lissa, even though I knew she was putting up a calm front. She was terrified that she would botch something up, or say the wrong thing. She was terrified that what she would say would be what would condemn me. But my faith in Lissa was as strong as ever. I only wished I could be there to see her do this, rather than experience it through her.

"Rose and I ran away in our sophomore year," She began, a slight smile on her face. There was a low murmur in the crowd; They'd all known about that of course. When the last Dragomir went missing it was not an occasion for calm. "And upon our return to St. Vladimir's, she had a trial of sorts, in which the headmistress was going to determine her future at the academy. During that time, nobody considered what I had to say, or how I had played a part in that. They gave Rose a chance to stay in the school, on probationary terms, provided she go through extensive extra training to cover what she had missed in class. And Rose did excellent. She graduated as the best guardian in her class."

I thought of Eddie. If I had been with Lissa, I would have contested that remark. Eddie had proven himself to be the best, at least in my eyes, when we were in Las Vegas. He had Dimitri cornered within minutes, something that it had taken me a long while to do. Eddie was able to see the strigoi as they were, rather than for the people they used to be, something that marked my weaknesses. And if I hadn't messed Eddie up, he would have staked Dimitri and received another molnija mark on his neck. I was grateful, though, that I hadn't allowed him to stake Dimitri.

"But last year Rose left again, shortly before we were due to graduate. She had a mission in mind." I felt tense as I thought of what Lissa was about to say. "Rose went all the way to Russia to hunt down a strigoi."

That caused a little bit of discontent to grow among the moroi in the court. Dhampirs leaving school, and subsequently their guardian duties, was a disrespectful thing. In Russia, they had referred to it as being unpromised, and the rogue group of people I had met who hunted strigoi had had a very unsavory reputation.

Lissa let the court say what they would for a few moments, before calling attention back to herself. "Rose did not leave to hunt down just any strigoi. She left in search of one strigoi…her former instructor, who had mentioned in a lesson that death was a better fate than living as a strigoi. True to her values, Rose went to Russia to free Guardian Dimitri Belikov from walking the world a strigoi. And when she came back, she was permitted to rejoin her class in training. And so she proved herself an excellent guardian."

"It sounds to me that Miss Hathaway has had her fair share of chances." Somebody spoke. Lissa followed the voice with a look of utmost composure to where Anthony Badica sat in his chair, looking smug. Lissa smiled at him sweetly, as if he had paid me nothing short of a compliment.

"Oh, but there's more." I felt cold as Lissa spoke. Surely she was not going to mention Las Vegas. I don't know where she was going with this, but it seemed that bringing up my mistakes was unsurprisingly not making the court feel very partial to me, as Anthony had demonstrated. "Just weeks ago, Rose and I left court, as I'm sure all of you know. We went to Las Vegas. You all must remember, as that was the very same weekend Victor Dashkov escaped from prison."

I felt terror beginning to coil up inside me, replacing the fury I had felt. She was perilously close to insinuating that we had broken Victor Dashkov out of prison. If the court got wind of that, it would lead to all sorts of wild speculation that I had freed Victor to assist me in killing the queen.

"When we returned, Rose was punished, as she always is. Dhampirs receive the brunt of the punishment, even if a moroi has caused their own damage. Funny how we make our own beds, and then the dhampir have to lay in them." She let that wash over the court for a moment, and there were a few gasps at her indignant remarks. "It was her punishment that prevented her from going to Lehigh when I made a trip for my eighteenth birthday with Priscilla Voda. In that very same trip, my party was attacked by strigoi. Priscilla Voda perished that night, as well as many of our very valuable, respectable guardians. I stand before this court in all honesty and tell you that if Rosemarie Hathaway had not been punished, she would have been there that night and prevented the massacre that occurred. In the absence of the queen, and as I am eighteen and am legally allowed to make my own choices, I appoint Rosemarie Hathaway to be my sanctioned guardian."

I was just as shocked by her words as the rest of the court. They all began to speak at once, in outrage and confusion and even in wonder. The effects of spirit must have really gotten to her though, because she was surely crazy. Nobody would ever let me be a guardian now.

"That is not allowed!" Nathan Ivashkov sat on the royal court now, as the queen had been an Ivashkov. In her absence somebody from the family had to speak for them. As the oldest, it was his right. It was Nathan who had yelled the objection, punctuating it with a slam of his fist into the table before him. Perhaps he got confused and began to think himself the judge.

"In all of our archaic laws, I have not found the tiniest indication that a royal Moroi may not choose their guardian. My safety is my concern, and mine alone. Who I choose as my guardian is also of my own choosing. Before, I took into consideration the requests of the queen. Being that one of my guardians was killed, I invoke my right to appoint someone else to be my guardian. Rose is my guardian and shall be treated as such until a time in which somebody can prove to me that this is not allowed."

The judge nodded, her face blank. She did not betray her emotions, for I could not tell what she thought of this. Lissa was dying to know what the judge was going to say too. "I have never heard of any evidence that this is not allowed. Rosemarie Hathaway will be your guardian, pending any laws have not been over-looked. However, it still stands to reason that if Rosemarie Hathaway has killed the queen, that she must be tried. If she is convicted of high treason, the punishment is execution." Lissa had known that of course. She was very well-informed on the workings of the politics of the Moroi.

"I do understand, your honor. But until the trial, I need my guardian to protect me. While I remain on the grounds of this court, I am allowed to have my guardian at my side."

Outrage erupted in the masses. But I was too shocked by what Lissa was saying to pay attention to the audience. She could not be right. It was too good to be true.

The judge calmed the frenzy with a few swift bangs of her gavel. "On what grounds do you think that a suspect in a high-profile murder should be allowed to walk free until her trial?" The judge sounded panicked, like she knew what Lissa was about to say. Lissa tried to hide her smile.

"On the grounds of Kinkade Versus The Royal Court, 1983."


	4. Chapter 4

The name Kinkade rang a bell somewhere in the back of my mind, and I had to really focus to remember where I had heard it. The answer was obvious. At St. Vladimirs, we had all more or less had to take a government class. That was my freshman year, a time when I was really unfocused on my studies. Lissa and I had been proud members of the party crowd at that point in time, and so a lot of things pertaining to the future and school hadn't really interested us. Well, me, at least. Apparently Lissa had been paying attention.

I remained in Lissa's head while she explained to the court the case of Kinkade Versus The Royal Court. The judge had had her fears confirmed, apparently, because she looked sort of grim when Lissa explained the proceedings of the Kinkade trial. It seemed that I did have a chance of getting out of here.

In 1983, a guardian by the name of Edward Kinkade had been tried in court for treason. His offenses were, reportedly, giving information to miscellaneous strigoi about the inner workings of the Royal Court. He was believed to have enlisted the help of humans for the strigoi, so that they could break the wards and infiltrate court. Of course, it was little more than a rumored terrorist threat. While Edward Kinkade had been tried and convicted of treason, the court had never been infiltrated. Still, while the court gathered their evidence, they had kept him in the holding cells. That was, until the Moroi he was sanctioned to protect had gone to the court demanding Kinkade's release until the trial. The Moroi in question was, as fate would have it, none other than Tatiana Ivashkov. Her request had been taken under consideration, and Kinkade was allowed to be free until his trial, provided he fulfilled his guardian duties and protected Princess Ivashkov.

When Lissa shared the information from the trial with the court, there was an eerie calm over them all. Most of these people had been around to experience that, or had at least heard of it. Whether Kinkade had actually been guilty or not was still a mystery, but he had been presumed guilty and executed for his actions. It was for that reason that there was a collective unease among the court's audience. However, because Kinkade had agreed to the terms set forth by the court, and the time from his release to his trial had passed without incident, they had no just cause to keep me locked up. In fact, as Moroi law dictated, past indications would be used to resolve present issues under similar circumstances. Lissa was triumphant as she finished explaining to the court how I would be allowed to be free, though she did not let on to her jubilation, for fear of displaying un-court-like behavior.

She held a copy of papers that she had found about the Kinkade Case in the public domain and offered to show them to anyone that was in disbelief. But nobody asked to see the papers. The judge silenced the room as soon as Lissa finished with her evidence.

"Princess Dragomir has demonstrated a fair and valid example of a past case in which the decision was made to let a guardian continue to protect their moroi until the date of their trial. With credence to our bylaws and our standards of operation, and because the case provided as an example by Princess Dragomir is a valid representation of the same conflict, Rosemarie Hathaway will be released from her holding cell until she goes to her trial. And because of this new development, there will most certainly be a trial."

I almost felt like I could fly, though I was scared to believe anything that they were saying. If this did not work, I think all hope I had would have left me.

The judge made a sound, and Lissa looked straight at her, ready for whatever may come. "Of course there are limitations to Miss Hathaway's release. First and foremost, any attempt to leave the court will result in her subsequent removal from society until the trial. This is strictly probationary…If there is any sort of conflict regarding Miss Hathaway, she will be taken back to her holding cell to await her trial. And further, if Miss Hathaway succeeds in leaving this court, should she be so brash as to try it, then she will be hunted down and tried on additional charges of contempt. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, your honor." Lissa said, respectfully.

"It is partially your duty, Princess Dragomir, to keep her in line. Any misstep of hers may reflect poorly upon you."

"I understand." Lissa nodded.

"Very well. Then shall we bring Miss Hathaway in to explain the procedure?"

"I believe there is no need for that, your honor. I will make the terms known to Guardian Hathaway."

I left Lissa's head the moment she left court. There were so many things swirling around in my mind, each more convoluted than the next, that I feared being in Lissa's head with that much going on in my own head would cause some sort of psychotic break or overload our bond. I don't remember the last time I felt this happy, like the world was full of possibilities for me. And that was ironic, considering I still could not leave the grounds.

Lissa showed up outside my cell when the guardians came to let me out. I suppose since I was no longer in their care, it was not in their job description anymore to keep people out of my cell. But I was more than ecstatic to see her; Lissa's presence made the news all the more concrete. My freedom was tangible. When the bars separating us slid open, I almost felt like I would cry. "Lissa," I breathed, unsure of what to say. "You did it. You got me out of here." I realized I still sounded like I was in a state of disbelief, because I honestly still was.

Lissa shook her head sadly, and for a moment I feared that I had been right to believe that this was all too good to be true. "Only until the trial, Rose."

"Lissa," I said seriously, closing the distance between us to hug her. "You did better than anything I could have done. Thank you...so much."

Lissa sighed. She had been so jittery while she spoke, even though she appeared to the court to be a picture of serenity. Lissa had felt that if she stopped speaking she would lose her nerve, and so she had pushed herself to continue. Although, after she had begun to get into the thick of her evidence, she began to feel more at ease, even under the scrupulous eyes of the rest of the royals. Lissa was still on an emotional high, and the feelings that the bond exonerated were near to the feel of vampire endorphins; that blissful feeling that life was surely going to be perfect for everybody. In moments like this, it was easy to forget about the pressing issues of everyday life…like the fact that I was the main suspect in a murder investigation.

"You know the terms of your freedom, right?" Lissa asked warily.

I smiled. "Yeah, Liss, I know the terms. I saw the whole entire trial. You kicked royal moroi ass. I mean, I don't think anybody could have seen that coming. How did you remember to use evidence from that Kinkade trial?"

Lissa stayed quiet a half a second longer than she should have, and I realized that she was attempting to keep something from me. She had successfully kept knowledge from me only once before, when she had managed to charm a silver stake. The very same stake which she used to save Dimitri. The moment my thoughts turned to him, Lissa realized trying to keep information from me was silly, and frankly, not possible. I would find out one way or another.

"It was actually not my idea." Lissa admitted quietly. We had already begun walking out of the prison. I had been there long enough to last me the rest of my life, which I hoped would be longer than a week and a half, the time until my trial.

"Whose idea, then?" I asked, only half aware of what I was even saying. I was too consumed by joy and that feeling of bliss to care whose idea it was. Until Lissa actually told me who had come up with the idea.

"It was Adrian, actually. He was brilliant, the way he pored over those records. He says he wouldn't fit in at college, but he was studying those records for you, Rose." Her mouth was turned into a slight smile, and i could not help but return the gesture.

"But how did he know?" Adrian was a lot of things. Charming, sweet, good looking…smart was not something I would put on my list, although that was an unfair assessment. Adrian was by no means unintelligent; His lack of direction and his lackadaisical attitude only made him seem as though he didn't have anything going on in that pretty little head of his.

"He remembered some story that Queen Tatiana had told him when he was little. Something about the world being unfair. You'll have to ask him for the details, but it made him think of the case and he realized that we could help you. Of course, Lady Ivashkov didn't really want him getting wrapped up in this anymore, although that wouldn't have stopped him. I just convinced him that I should be the one to present the evidence, and he was more than happy to let me do it."

"You were amazing." I said excitedly. "I wish you would act like that in court more often." Lissa grimaced.

"I really wouldn't count on that, Rose. At least, not any time soon."

"Why not? They respect you. They listened to what you had to say, even if it scared the hell out of them."

"Because," There was a tone in Lissa's voice that sounded something like regret. I stopped walking and turned to face Lissa dead on, dreading whatever it was that she was about to say. "I'm leaving court."

**A/N:** I _really_ **love** those of you who review :) You make me feel like I can fly or something. Honestly, I've gone so long without writing fanfiction that I forgot what a rush it was to feel appreciated. I think all of you would agree that it is not really easy to put your writing out there, because that is like putting a little piece of your **heart** out there. Nobody wants to take the chance of that being smooshed. _Thank you sooo much_ to the people who are reviewing. And to those of you who aren't...**PLEASE?** Lol.


	5. Chapter 5

I had known, of course, that Lissa had been hiding something from me, but I had taken it to be Adrian's involvement in setting up my temporary release. The pure joy that I had felt at my freedom had provided a distraction, keeping me from realizing that Lissa had paused because she had been about to tell me, before I had switched gears on her. I had been too excited to notice that after Lissa revealed that little tidbit about Adrian there was still more to be said. I stared at her in astonishment, words failing me. I probably looked like a fish, opening and closing my mouth as I grappled for something to say.

"But…I can't leave. You know the terms of my jail-break. If I leave, I am going to be charged with contempt." I would have never minded the charges of contempt before, but sitting on top of charges of murder and high treason, contempt would look pretty menacing. And they would help none in proving my innocence.

Lissa was looking away from me, out at the cherry blossom trees that lined the path up to the main court. I tried to get into her head, but Lissa was getting better at shielding me from her thoughts. She nodded sadly. "I know you aren't allowed to leave, Rose. That is why I have to go alone."

Her words slammed into me with the force of a brick wall. I suddenly felt deflated. "Alone?" I repeated. Lissa's eyes met mine and she almost looked serious. Unable to help myself, I laughed a little.

"I'm not joking, Rose." Lissa said evenly. Surprised by the strength in her voice, I probed the bond and discovered that she was _not_ joking.

"You're not leaving court." I insisted, realizing just how serious she was. I guess Lissa forgot all about our jail break and rendezvous in Las Vegas. The man who had kidnapped her was out there, and I was supposed to let her go? Alone?

"I won't be alone."

I blinked. "But you just said-"

"I meant that I was going without you. I will not be going alone."

I laughed. "So who is going to protect you? Christian? You just appointed me your guardian, and now you expect me to let you go off without me? With another moroi for protection?" I was being a little harsh, but something about the way that Lissa was speaking was scaring me. She was entirely serious about this, just as she had been about learning how to use a stake. I had told her no then too, but she had gotten around me.

"I'm not going with Christian." Lissa's voice was quiet.

"Who, then? Mia?" It was hard to believe that Christian did not want to partake in her crazy scheme. He usually seemed to welcome danger, although not as much where Lissa was involved. The thought of her leaving with Mia, whom we had hated for so long before she changed to act like a real person instead of a rag doll, was absurd. But I wanted Lissa to realize just how ridiculous she was being.

"No. I'm going with Adrian."

That was most definitely unexpected. I stared at her in disbelief. It was bad enough that she planned on leaving the court at all, and then without me. With Christian she would at least have the protection of his fire abilities. What could Adrian possibly offer? It was not that he was incapable of caring for himself, or that she was not able to take care of herself. But two _royal _moroi, unprotected? They might as well wear targets upon their backs and hunt down strigoi themselves.

"Oh, and I suppose this was Adrian's idea too?" I said angrily. Other than when I had talked to Christian, I had pretty much been in Lissa's head the whole day. How was it that they had managed to come up with these plans without me knowing of them? Not that I think I am omniscient or anything, but how could I have missed something like this?

"No." Lissa said, her voice starting to match mine in tone and pitch. She was not angry, but she was beginning to feel defensive…and provoked. "Actually, Dimitri suggested it."

I think I would have believed her if she had said the deceased queen had risen from her grave to suggest the idea. But Dimitri? He had once been Lissa's guardian. He would be one of the last people to suggest that Lissa go off gallivanting with Adrian without any dhampir supervision. Yet Lissa was not one to lie, and I could sense that she was telling me the truth. My fury grew.

"You still haven't told me where you're going." The edge in my voice probably could have cut through steel. I was certain I would regret being this harsh later on, but now all I could focus on was just how pissed I was.

"To Russia." Lissa spoke quietly. My eyes grew wide. Russia? What could they possibly do in Russia?

"Why on Earth are you going there? What do you possibly expect to come of it?"

"I don't know yet." Lissa said quickly.

"_Please_ tell me that this entire thing is just some sort of charade." I said coldly. The thought of Lissa and Adrian in Russia? Though it was a beautiful country and most of the people I had encountered there had been pleasant, it was tied with a whole bunch of negative thoughts for me. Strigoi had taken up residence in Russia because the cities were perfect for hunting. When people went missing over there, it would be chalked up to leaving the club with a dangerous man or wild habits. And with all of the clubs and night-life that Russia had to offer, the strigoi were abundant.

"I'm not pretending, Rose. We leave tonight."

"Then why did you bother to even get me out of prison if you're just going to abandon me?" I didn't realize how loud my voice was until a couple of passing moroi turned to look at me in shock. The queen's murderer yelling at the last Dragomir? I was making a spectacle of us, but I was too mad to care.

"Because you don't deserve to be locked up in there. We all know that you didn't do anything wrong."

"Well, that's not what the royal court believes." I said sharply.

"They are out to set an example. Somebody thought you would be an easy target. Now we have to prove them all wrong. It's a blood lust, Rose, that's all. An eye for an eye." Lissa was speaking calmly now, her voice soothing. I felt myself becoming still, my frustration disappearing in increments. Unbelievable. My own best friend was trying to use compulsion on me.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked her. I was beginning to feel defeated, but I was still sure to back my words with that dark anger.

"You've spent forever protecting me. I think I need to start trying to pay you back." Her voice was determined. She wanted so badly for me to just be OK with this.

"Have you forgotten that I would not be here if you hadn't saved me? Even if you weren't my best friend, or a royal, I would still dedicate my life to protecting you."

"And that is part of the reason why I have to do this. I was a mess when you were gone. I ruined everything I had going for me. What do you think would happen to me if you die? I couldn't handle it, Rose. So if you won't let me help you, then at least let me help myself."

Lissa had me with that, and she knew it too. There was no arguing the negative impact my death would have on her. I wanted to believe that she needed me, and I wanted also to believe that she didn't need me. I wanted to feel like if my trial were to show that I was guilty and I was executed, that Lissa would be able to continue to live life like normal. But I knew that was not true. Even though the bond only worked in my favor, the emotional connection that had forged between us as a result of our friendship had been deepened by her spirit connections. Losing me would be just as detrimental to her health as it would my own. I recalled how I had felt when Dimitri had been turned into a strigoi. It was as though I had lost a part of myself then, too. Even though it was insane, it was for both of our benefit that Lissa leave the court to do what she felt she could to save me.

"You can't take just Adrian. You need to take a guardian…two guardians. One for each of you."

"We are going to do a little bit better than that." Said Lissa with a half smile. She knew I would approve of whatever methods of protection she had enlisted. "We're taking Eddie. And when we get there, we are going to meet up with Abe. And your mom."

Abe? He was certainly scary, but he was no guardian. However, he did have three of his own guardians, and I suppose that was what Lissa was getting at. So five guardians to protect three moroi? The odds could have been better, like if I had been able to go. With my weird strigoi-induced nausea, I would have a tip off whenever they were in danger. "Nice of them to have a family reunion without me." I muttered dryly. I did not like the idea of both my parents being together for an extended period of time. Then again, I did not like anything about this trip. But the look on Lissa's face, coupled with the determination in the bond, told me it did not matter what I thought.

"Take Dimitri." I pleaded, as a sort of last resort. I was entirely confident of Dimitri's skills. If he were to go with them, it would make the whole thing a lot easier for me to digest. Besides, if he were to go, that would level the playing field a bit, making six guardians to three Moroi. That would mean two guardians for each moroi.

To my frustration, Lissa shook her head. "Dimitri can't leave. He is still under suspicion, and he hasn't been pronounced a guardian again. He can't leave, just as you can't."

"What am I going to do with you away from court? As soon as anybody finds out you're missing, I will be back to my cell." I didn't realize I'd referred to it as my cell. I felt sickened by the thought, as if it was a demonstration of some kind of attachment.

"Just don't let anybody find out. Hole up in my room. Say I am sick or something."

Lissa was fairly angelic. She did not like lies; Hell, even I felt guilty telling lies sometimes. But Lissa was more than condoning this…she was pushing it on me, giving me no choice in the matter.

"So now instead of being locked up I'm just under house arrest?" Granted, it was the better choice. But after getting a taste of freedom, and then realizing it wasn't quite true…

I decided I wouldn't sit here and mope about letting them dictate my fate. I was out of prison for now, and that would give me the chance that I needed to find the answers to the questions Tatiana had left me with.

"Okay, fine. But you had better expect that I will visit often." Lissa did not like me entering her head so much; she felt like it was invasive. However, if she was going to leave me, she had to know that there was simply no getting around this.

"I'll have Adrian visit." Lissa said. "Other than that, you can't contact Abe."

"Why not?" I probably would not have contacted Abe in the first place, but the thought of being told I could not do it was another blow.

"He's acting as your lawyer. All sorts of people will be listening to any conversation that passes between you two. We decided it would be best if we only communicated through the bond and dreams."

She did not realize how crazy she would have sounded to somebody who was ignorant of spirit. But because both her and Adrian were spirit users, they could communicate with me in other ways. Of course, I was still hung up on the fact that I couldn't call Abe.

"They can't do that." I said, referring to the idea of the queen's guardians tapping the phone lines.

"Unfortunately they can. And they probably will. For your own good, Rose, just don't call him."

I wasn't about to drop the matter, despite the fact that she was right. Human laws did not always coincide with moroi laws. Whereas with humans, evidence that was obtained illegally could not be used in a trial, in the moroi court everything was pretty much fair game. However, I was prevented from continuing this useless debate when I noticed Christian walking over to us. I shot him a look that he understood well. Whatever he had found out from guardian records was not something he would share in Lissa's presence. Lissa turned to follow my gaze and I felt her emotions become a jumble through the bond. She was nervous, I realized. She hadn't told Christian yet that she was leaving.

"I'll let you tell him." I said, feeling smug. Although I should not have been rejoicing in her discomfort, I was glad that I was not the only person she had to convince to let her go off on her own. Lissa looked pained, her face displaying a mix of determination and fear, but she nodded. I left before Christian totally reached us, deciding I had to take care of something with Adrian.

I wasn't quite sure where I should look for him, though. He always seemed to be the one find me. At school, I could go to guest housing. At court, I would have to go to his parent's house. That was not going to happen, of course, after I had snubbed Daniella by choosing Abe as my lawyer, even after she had worked to have Damon Tarus do it. Though I liked Daniella and wanted to apologize, I was not going to show up at her doorstep looking for Adrian, simply for the risk of running into Nathan. Surely after Lissa had fought to have me named as her guardian so I would be released from jail, Adrian's father would have me dragged back to my cell if he noticed Lissa's absence.

I decided I would try going by his house anyways. Maybe I would catch him coming or going, but I was certainly not going to go in the house. I turned to head toward the housing on the side of the court when a thought occurred to me. Adrian could wait; Right now, I needed to talk to Ambrose.

**A/N: Sorry I didn't post last night. Three people at work were sick and by the time I got off, I felt pretty sick too. I didn't like the chapter enough to submit it, so I decided to make some tweaks and post today. In my humble opinion this was a boring chapter, but it was something that needed to be done. It is for that reason that I have already written chapter six, which I personally find much more interesting. Maybe if you guys are good little reviewers, I can post chapter six when I get home from work tonight? Let me know what you think ;)**


	6. Chapter 6

It was a mark of all the things going on in my life right now that I didn't think to find Ambrose sooner. He should have been the one I had asked for when I was in my cell. Surely he would have some of the answers I was looking for. After all, he had been the one to give me the letter.

The salon and spa where Ambrose's Aunt Rhonda did her work as a fortune teller was in the same direction as the housing, only a little closer to court. I had gone that way just three days before to see Rhonda, after Ambrose had cajoled me into seeing her. Not that I wasn't a little bit interested, but her first reading had been pretty grim. Her second had been no better.

I let my feet take me there, as my head was pretty much in the clouds. Ok, in the clouds is the wrong expression. What expression do you use for somebody whose head is so full of dark things and endless questions that they can't think of anything else? Oh, right. You would call her shadow kissed.

I squeezed myself into the halls along the way to where Rhonda told her fortunes. Last time I had seen her, she had sat on the floor with a cup of yogurt. Today, I entered into the room to find Rhonda telling a fortune to somebody else. I was about to back out apologetically, until I realized who it was getting their fortune told. "Mia?" I asked in disbelief.

Mia was a water using moroi. She had been captured by strigoi with Eddie, Mason, Christian, and myself when we were in Spokane. She had used her powers then to help us get free. Of course, I still hadn't cared for her too much. But when her mom died, Mia did a complete turn around. She left St. Vladimir's to live at court with her father and had been training tirelessly to learn to fight strigoi using her abilities. Since then, she has become a good friend, and while I hadn't trusted her with the details, Mia had helped us access guardian files about Tarasov.

Presently, Mia jumped up and came toward me with her arms outstretched. She hugged me, and I could feel the excitement in her. "Rose! I heard all about what Lissa did at court. It's so great to see you!"

"Thanks, Mia," I was still surprised to see her, particularly so excited to see me. "It's nice to see you too."

Rhonda peered over at me with an amused sort of smile on her lips. "Rose…what brings you here today?"

"I was just looking for Ambrose." Rhonda's smile widened into something genuine. Ambrose was ridiculously good-looking. After Dimitri, he was the best looking dhampir guy on the face of this planet.

"Oh, he should be here soon. He's working somewhere, I think. Ever since what happened with the queen he's been just a little depressed."

I attempted a smile, although thinking about the queen's murder put me ill at ease, considering I was the chief suspect. Rhonda's eyes lingered on me a moment longer, sizing me up. Then she snapped back to attention.

"Well, why don't you sit down. We had just finished Mia's reading before you got here." She looked at Mia affectionately. "The future looks bright for you."

I tried not to be jealous of that, thinking of my last card reading. I had pulled five cards, and they had conveyed most unhappy thoughts. I had pulled the two of cups…that was a show of my confusing situation with Dimitri. He loves me, he loves me not. The six of swords, meaning I would be trapped, accused of something. And I had been accused of the Queen's murder and locked up in prison. Even though I was out for now, I was still trapped on the court grounds. The nine of swords meant a journey, which I could only guess was the journey Lissa and Adrian were going on. I could not physically go, of course, but I could be there via the bond. The queen of swords had meant I had an enemy, one who was clever and cunning. That was obviously Queen Tatiana. I had called her a sanctimonious bitch just before Rhonda did my reading. And the Page of Cups, which Rhonda had not understood. It was shrouded in mystery for her. I knew now because of the queen's letter that this was the last Dragomir. Lissa's brother or sister.

"No," I said quickly. The way things were going, getting worse each time, I imagined I would pull the ten of swords. Death. "I don't have time today."

Rhonda gave me an imperious look. "Won't you wait for Ambrose here?"

She knew of course, that I would wait here because of my need to see Ambrose. This was the only place that I could think I would find him.

"Oh, you should get your reading, Rose." Mia sounded like a child, so full of wonder and excitement. This was slightly out of her character, and I could not help but wonder what caused her such joy. I sighed. _The cards do not make the future_, Rhonda had said. Given the accuracy of her last reading, I would say they did. But I was scared of a deck of cards? It was silly, ridiculous even.

"Alright. I'll play." I went and sat before Rhonda, who still couldn't shake that amused smile from her face. I would guess that she knew what cards I would pull, but I knew already that she was not capable of that sort of thing. She gathered Mia's cards and began to shuffle them into the deck.

"How many cards, Rose?" Last time I had pulled five. It had given me a lot to work with.

"Five." I said certainly.

Rhonda held the deck out for me to cut. She flipped out five cards with a quick little motion. My eyes roamed over the pictures. I saw that two of them were of wands, the others were swords and there was one of cups. Rhonda started with the first. "The five of wands. It indicates a power struggle, some sort of conflict."

I could reason with that. I needed to find the last Dragomir to get Lissa her right to vote. It was as close to a power struggle as I could imagine. Rhonda looked at me, as if she expected a comment. She was probably so used to my usual sarcasm and disbelief that she expected that now. "That makes sense." Was all I could say. I could tell very few people about the last Dragomir, and Rhonda was certainly not one of those people. Accepting my silence, Rhonda moved on to the next card.

"The three of swords."

I sighed. In my last reading I had pulled three different cards with swords. These were often the most ominous, it would seem. The picture on the card did not make me believe otherwise. Three swords pierced a bleeding heart. There was a picture of a storm in the background. Rhonda's mouth twitched a little.

"The three of swords stands for heartbreak, usually because of something you have misunderstood or something untrue that you have been led to believe."

I couldn't imagine what that would be, not unless she was reading my past now. I had had my heart broken when Dimitri told me his love was gone now. Was it possible that I had misunderstood Dimitri? Maybe he just didn't love me _as much _as he used to. I still loved him enough that I could deal with that.

"Been there, done that." I said wryly. "Are you sure you are still talking about the future?" That was more like the response that Rhonda had been expecting, and she smiled.

"I'm sure." She waited to see if I would make another remark, but when I remained silent she moved to the next card. "The eight of cups."

I had gathered up enough information about the cards to realize that cups meant love. I didn't want to think about my love life right now, but part of me was curious to see what it meant.

"This card is one of the best and the worst in the family of cups. It represents a resolution, burying pain for an old love. It is tied with travel."

I wanted to say something to her just then about how we had pulled a travel card last time. Seeing as I was stuck here, that card was certainly not going to do me any good. And besides, I didn't dare hope that Dimitri and I would resolve our problems. To believe that he would admit he loved me again was almost too good to be true. But my objections would have been lost on Rhonda, who was interested in the next card. I peered at the card, curious as to what she found so interesting. It was another card of cups. The ace, to be exact.

"This is new love." She said wistfully, and I looked up into her eyes to see them unfocused. Rhonda looked like a love-struck teenager.

Impossible. I would never love anybody like Dimitri. As if she sensed my thoughts, Rhonda snapped back to attention.

"It does not necessarily mean from other people. It could be a deeper sort of love with the same person you had before. It does not always mean the love of a couple; It could be within the family."

I began to feel the flutter of excitement back in me, that old fire shooting through my veins. By the sound of it, I would go through all this pain with Dimitri only to come out stronger for it. Our love would grow deeper. Though it was foolish of me to believe I could have my happily ever after, I did allow myself to feel that unadulterated sense of bliss, until Rhonda spoke again.

"This card troubles me," She said, gingerly picking up the last card. I looked up at what was a familiar card.

"The queen of swords?" I asked. I knew the queen of swords was smart and cunning. That did not seem too bad to me.

"It was upside down." Rhonda said quietly. Last time, the same thing had happened. It meant I had an enemy, somebody I needed to watch out for.

"That's what I got last time." I said, trying to make it clear that I thought that was no big deal. I was still too high on the possibility of regaining Dimitri's love that I did not want to let her bring me down.

"Then whoever your enemy is, they're still out to get you."

**A/N: Yes, another cliff hanger. The best way to end a chapter, if I don't say so myself. This one's not too bad though. Thank you to the three who reviewed the last chapter...I'm posting this for you. ;) Make sure you leave me some love again, or else tell me what you don't like. It inspires me to write more! By the way, the other night I got so excited about how many people have added me to their favorite authors/stories or subscribed to my story that I started choking on my cookie. :) **


	7. Chapter 7

I snorted derisively at the thought. The queen had been my enemy, I was sure about that. Even if she were planning on haunting me, there was not a whole lot she could do besides give me ridiculous headaches. And even that was a long shot because when I yelled for ghosts to leave, they seemed to listen alright. Rhonda looked stricken at my flippancy, but I was spared a lecture when Ambrose walked in.

He was of course, just as good looking as always, but his skin was pale for a dhampir, and pale even then for him. There were bluish circles under his lovely brown eyes, and he looked so tired he could fall over at any minute. But when he saw me, he smiled, and it was a beautiful thing, full of warmth and light.

"I wondered how long it would take you to find me." He was amused by my presence, it would seem.

"I just got out. I came here looking for you, and…" I gestured to the room, to Rhonda sitting in her high-backed chair with five cards laid out before her. The gesture seemed to be enough.

"I wish I had been here for your reading. Your last one was so entertaining." I smiled at him, though thinking of my last reading didn't really warm me up any.

"Can we go for a walk?"

Ambrose understood the meaning behind my words. "Mia, why don't you have Aunt Rhonda show you how to read tea leaves?" Mia looked positively star struck as she smiled at him, and the curiosity I had felt earlier over her giddy attitude was apparent. The affection in her eyes was nothing, if not obvious. Though she was sad to see him go, she was excited by the prospect of tea leaves. I thought inexplicably of Jill, with all her excitement and optimism. When Lissa and Avery had taken Jill to court, they had left her under Mia's care, and they had gotten along well. It hadn't really occurred to me until just then how much alike they were.

I led our way out of the building, happy when we reached the doors leading outside. I tossed them open and let the moon shine down on me, happy to have this moment, seeing as they may be numbered. Ambrose looked haunted as he stepped out into the light. There was something about the ghostly way the fading moonlight danced across his face that struck me as odd. I decided to chalk it up to his grief over recent events.

"I'm glad to see that Vasilisa won you your freedom."

"Temporarily. I don't think I am supposed to leave her side, but I couldn't bring her along for this."

"What do you mean, this?" Ambrose was clever. He knew what I meant, but I didn't have the energy to be frustrated with him anymore.

"This, as in your interrogation. I have a lot of questions, and you are about as close as I can come to answering them."

"Aunt Rhonda had none of the answers you seek?" That was almost like some sort of joke. He didn't seem to take himself too seriously on the query.

"Your Aunt Rhonda gave me more questions." I said wryly. But now was not the time to brood over a deck of cards. "The letter that you gave me in court…Tatiana gave this to you?"

Ambrose shook his head, smiling a little. "She didn't give it to me. I found it."

"You found it?" I repeated, just for good measure. It seemed somewhat unlikely that he would be allowed to enter the site of a murder investigation, the queen's favorite servant or not.

"Yes. It was on her desk."

"Then why were you able to get it to me? Why didn't it get confiscated as evidence or something?" Ambrose was not on my suspect list here, but I did need to be sure that I got the story straight. Whatever he told me could help me discover what I needed to know about Lissa's remaining relative. And of course, it could help in gaining my rightful freedom.

"Because I got to it before anybody else could. Who do you think discovered her?" He paused for a second, like he might let me answer that, and then continued. "Her guardians certainly wouldn't enter her chamber without the right to. They let me in as they do every morning, and that was how I discovered that she was dead."

My head spun with the possibilities of that. I had never considered how anyone had discovered the queen was dead; With everything that was going on, that was the least of my problems. Yet the thought of being the one to find her like that…laying in bed with a stake pushed through her heart. It was a terrible thing to imagine. Though I had seen the pictures, I was sure the real thing, and the shock that came with it, could not have compared to what we had seen in the courtroom.

"I'm sorry," I said automatically. "I know you were close."

Ambrose raised a quizzical eyebrow. "Do you, now?" He asked. His tone indicated that he thought I couldn't possibly know as much as I thought I did on the matter.

"I've heard rumors." I mumbled. I did not want to run Tatiana's name through the mud any more than I already had. Though she had been my enemy, something about slandering the dead didn't sit quite right with me.

"Rumors?" To my surprise, Ambrose laughed. "That I was her lover?"

"More or less," I admitted, shrugging the idea off.

"The queen was like a mother to me, Rose."

I probably should have been sitting down for this. After all of the times I had heard of speculation about what his relationship was to the queen, I had never imagined a sort of kinship between them. "But…" I grappled for something to say, some tactic of defense. "But your neck…the bite marks?" It was the best I had, but I felt guilty about bringing that up.

"I have female company, not that it should concern you." He was not being defensive, I'll give him that. He was merely stating that I should not concern myself with his love life, or possibly an addiction he may have. And really, he was right. Though the bruises had faded, I had also had bite marks once before. When Adrian had questioned me about them, I had told him it was none of his business. I certainly had no right to ask the same thing of Ambrose.

"I'm sorry. It's just that everyone…"

"Everyone says otherwise. I have heard the rumors. The truth is, that when I decided to drop out of school rather than become a guardian, my parents were anything but proud. They just didn't understand that it wasn't right for me, and they made it clear that no son of theirs was a quitter. So I made it clear to them that there was no way I would be swayed from making my own choices. That's why I came to work at the court. Aunt Rhonda was the only other person I had left."

I felt bad for him now. Rhonda seemed like a nice enough person, but she was hardly what I would consider to be the mother prototype. She seemed to be so caught up in her own world of clairvoyance that she could hardly offer the support Ambrose would have needed. As though he had read my mind, Ambrose smiled.

"Don't get me wrong, Aunt Rhonda is a wonderful woman. But she didn't know how to be a mother. I was pretty much alone, trying to make my way in the world, and all she had to offer was ice cream and tarot readings, not that I mind either of those. Tatiana just seemed to see that I needed support, and so she offered it. She taught me a lot about the workings of this place."

Now I felt even more sorrow for Ambrose. The queen had not been his lover, rather than a sort of mentor, someone he looked up to, albeit foolishly. I tried to imagine that I had discovered my mother murdered and immediately shivered, casting that thought away. Though we had what I consider a strained relationship, it was too awful to consider.

"So then you didn't know about the letter until after she was gone?" I used that word as a substitute for dead in the hopes of sounding more gentle. This wasn't a consideration I would have ever made before, but in light of recent revelations, I was feeling generous.

"No."

"But she thought that something bad would happen, or else she would not have written that note."

"I agree with you, but I can't imagine how she would have known if anybody was after her." Ambrose sighed thoughtfully. He looked tired…It was getting close to night…the sun was beginning to creep into the sky.

"If she thought that, why didn't she have extra guardians around, instead of writing to me?"

"I don't think she intended that you would be the one charged with her murder." Ambrose said quietly. It was good to know I was not the only one.

"I just can't figure it out. If she had known about another Dragomir, she would have told me before. She had other chances to. Not to mention, that would make our whole argument over the quorum pointless." I had been talking mostly to myself, so I was surprised when Ambrose answered that thought.

"She didn't know about that until just before she died."

I looked up at him in surprise. "How do you know?"

"Because I brought those files to her the day before she died. She was very busy that day, so she thanked me and waved me along. That was the last time I saw her."

"So then how do you know what was in those files?" I asked in suspicion. Something about him was setting off tiny alarm bells in the back of my mind. Perhaps it was just because I was beginning to grow suspicious of everybody, but somehow his words seemed to stick in my mind. _They let me in, as they do every morning…_

"Because," Ambrose said, sounding exhausted. "I'm the one who stole the files for her." 

**A/N: And another chapter of dialogue. Next chapter there's a little more action, as well as a tad bit of Adrian and some Dimitri. Leave me your love and criticisms, tell me your thoughts, and I will post the next chapter soon :) Love you, my readers.**


	8. Chapter 8

The very moment the words left his mouth I knew what he meant. I recalled how Sydney had contacted me regarding the stolen alchemists files. She had figured I was to blame because she knew that I had a record of disregard for authority, and the files in question had been concerning Eric Dragomir. While I had not been the one to steal the records, I had been curious to find out who did. Sydney claimed the alchemists had copies of everything…bank statements, observations. If there was anything to indicate that there was another Dragomir, surely those files would say.

"You stole them?" I asked, sounding even to my own ears to be in a state of total disbelief. That brought a smile to Ambrose's face, and he looked grimly amused.

"Of course I did. The queen asked for the files, and so I retrieved them for her."

"But you stole them!" I said haughtily. It was not that he had stolen the files, so much as I had been under Sydney's suspicion for the act. And I had never suspected Ambrose could have stolen them. Particularly, not for the queen.

"There was a job to be done and I did it. Queen Tatiana always knew what she was doing."

I just couldn't manage to grasp the concept. I shook my head, as if telling him he was wrong. "She was the queen. Why couldn't she just ask?"

Ambrose laughed, and though it was a hollow sound it was still charming and beautiful. The sun was beginning to peek over the mountains, casting us into shades of pink and orange. By the light of day, he looked a little less lovely than usual.

"The alchemists aren't very forthcoming. Our rules, our standards, don't mean anything to them, so long as they do their job and avoid trouble. The queen could have asked for the files, of course, but if they didn't automatically deny her, it would have taken weeks for her to get a hold of them."

"Why you?" I didn't mean for him to take offense, but he was, after all, a drop out. He worked merely as a servant, albeit a high class one. It seemed more likely that the queen would have appointed a guardian to the task. Hell, I was half surprised she didn't have me do it. As though Ambrose could read my thoughts, he addressed them. I was beginning to wonder if connections to the paranormal were common in his family.

"The queen could have sent a guardian. She could have sent you. But I think it stands to reason that you were already in enough trouble. All it would take is one slip up and your career as a guardian would be over."

"Doesn't matter now. My life's just about over too." I hated what this was doing to me, this feeling of high and low, being so happy and then so upset.

"You don't really believe that." He said calmly. He wasn't going to try to talk me down from the ledge, just make me see reason.

"I'm starting to." Our talk had gotten me nothing prudent. I could not see how any of this was useful to me in finding the last Dragomir, or winning my freedom.

"Would it help if I told you I could get you the files the queen requested?"

"How could you do that?"

Ambrose smiled secretively. "Don't worry about the details. Meet me by the courthouse in half an hour."

I hesitated. Half an hour was not enough time. "Can we make it two?"

He looked mildly curious about my need for extra time, but he nodded. "Two hours it is. I'll see you." He began to turn back into the building, but stopped and faced me. His features were in full view with the sun now free of the mountains. "Oh, and Rose? Be careful." Without anything further to be said he turned back and disappeared behind the heavily shaded doors.

I tried to shrug off the cold feeling he had left me with as I slipped into Lissa's head. She was in her room, as I had suspected. I did not stay in her head long enough to see what she was up to. The walk was not far at all, and so I began to head there, wondering how Ambrose was going to get the files the queen had been looking at. Maybe he had already taken them, the day he found the letter she left for me.

I showed up outside of Lissa's door and decided it wasn't really necessary to knock. I pushed it open and realized that maybe I should have checked to see who she was with. Christian was not in there, thankfully, which meant Lissa was fully clothed. And fortunately, so were the other two occupants of the room…Adrian and Dimitri. I should have expected that, I guess, but somehow it came as a surprise to me to see them together with my own eyes rather than through the bond.

"Rose!" Lissa said, startled. "I was scared you weren't going to come."

I felt a chill at the thought of them all together without me. Of course, it wasn't Lissa and Adrian being together that bothered me. They got together often to practice spirit. What irked me was that Dimitri was there, standing against the wall as he had when I had been in Lissa's head. He gave off an unconcerned air, which only pissed me off even more. I decided I was going to ignore him.

"Well, as much as I disapprove of this, I figure I better make sure you guys get off safely."

Adrian smiled. He looked like he was going to step forward and then stopped, thinking better of it. I appraised him coldly, not quite sure why that upset me so much. I felt like we were all walking on egg shells. _To hell with that, _I thought. I crossed the room in a few simple steps and wrapped my arms around him. Adrian looked down at me in surprise and I stood on the tips of my toes to give him a quick, sweet kiss. I could feel his shock at the gesture and I pulled away, looking at Dimitri from the corner of my eye. His eyes were cast on the floor. "I missed you." I told Adrian. It was the truth. I had missed him, when I had had the time to think of him. I had been so consumed with thoughts of the queen and Lissa's illegitimate sibling that I hadn't had much time to dwell on the intricacies of my love life. Now all of them came to a head right here in this room.

"We are expecting Eddie soon." Lissa said timidly. I think I was causing her some measure of discomfort, but I couldn't afford to care about that. Lissa was a big part of my life of course, and I would do whatever I needed to in order to keep her safe. But even though she was my best friend, she was still not in my good graces.

"I haven't talked to Eddie since right after Tarasov," I said in a conversational tone. Though Eddie had given me the silent treatment at first, he had warmed back up to me a little. I was anxious to see if he had let that go and was ready to trust me again. He was clearly ready to trust Lissa, even in spite of her stupid decision to go to Russia.

I almost didn't notice the awkward shift in tension in the room. The only thing that tipped me off to a change in anything was Dimitri. He snapped to attention, looking at me with a very strange look somewhere between outrage and desperation. I tried to avoid looking into his eyes, cause I knew the moment I did I wouldn't be able to keep those emotions from showing on my face.

"What about Tarasov?" He asked.

I looked up at him in surprise, forgetting to avoid looking at his eyes. _Damn_. I could feel all those things I wasn't supposed to, playing across my face. Love, hope, pain, disappointment, love…I hoped it wasn't obvious. Confused, I looked at Lissa, who looked a little sheepish at my revelation.

"Nobody told him?" I asked. I just assumed that the way they were always together, this had been something they would have addressed. It never even occurred to me that this was something I would have to hide from Dimitri, of all people. Besides, he had been with them when they realized Robert must have compelled the Queen's guardians, so surely he knew.

"It didn't seem all that important in the grand scheme of things." Lissa said quietly. I could feel her concern; She didn't believe Dimitri would turn us in, but she knew the more people who knew about a secret, the less likely it is to stay a secret. Adrian had nothing to say on the matter. He hadn't actually been involved in breaking Victor out of Tarasov, although he knew about it after. Did that make him an accessory?

"Well, he has a right to know. It's about him anyways." I said, in what I hoped was an indifferent voice. Screw his rights though, part of me knew this was really about proving to him the lengths I had gone to in order to save him. Dimitri was watching me shrewdly, his eyes wide. I think he knew what I was about to say.

"I broke Victor Dashkov out of prison." I probably could have wrapped that up in some words to make it a little less blunt, but I kind of liked the look Dimitri gave me when he realized it was true. I had to work to hide a smug smile.

"Why would you do that?"

"Why would I do something like that?" I laughed. "It needed to be done. Victor had something I needed and the only way to get his attention was to give him the one thing that no one else would…his freedom."

"What could Victor possibly have that could make you do something so foolish?" Dimitri's body language had changed. He definitely wasn't feeling indifferent anymore.

"Information about spirit," I said casually, "And how it can be used to return a strigoi to a dhampir." Perhaps that was a little too specific. Not all strigoi were dhampir before they turned, but I wasn't going to withhold the fact that Dimitri had been the reason for my decision. I had tried to save him because of my love for him.

"How could you do that?"

"I had my motives."

"_Nothing_ is worth that!" Dimitri was just about yelling, and I could see the fury in his face. I smiled to spite him.

"Nothing?"

"What about your career? Everything we trained for? You were willing to throw that all away-"

"For you!" I yelled. I had had enough of playing the victim, or of having him make me out to be the victim. It was my chance to let out my fury, and I was going to take it. My outburst took Dimitri by surprise and he recoiled visibly against the wall. "I did what I did because I loved you! And you're too damn stubborn to care that I was willing to risk everything I had to save you, not just because I loved you! You told me you would rather die then live as a strigoi. And so I did what I could for you. I followed you to Russia, for God's sake. I hunted strigoi to find you, but I couldn't kill you! This was my only other choice!"

Dimitri looked stunned, and slightly guilty. I had thought I was done then, but there was something I needed to know. "And you say that nothing is worth that information?" Dimitri shook his head slowly, as if he were in a daze.

"So you wouldn't have done the same for me?"

My question caught him off guard and he opened his mouth to object. The passion in his eyes was fierce. I had almost forgotten about Lissa and Adrian's presence in the room. I half expected Dimitri to stride across the room and grab me by the shoulders to shake me. Or kiss me. Instead, he opened his mouth to speak, but whatever he was going to say died on his tongue when there was a knock on the door. I ignored it, staring him down. I was unable to take my eyes off him. For a moment it felt like it had when he was a strigoi, with us sizing each other up. But the only hostility here was because of our frustration over loving one another.

Lissa moved around me to get the door, and I heard Eddie's voice. "We're ready." 

**A/N: Not enough Adrian for my taste, but I hope it was satisfactory for you guys. ;) I'm thinking that since I didn't post last night I might make it up to you wonderful readers tonight. The next chapter is just about done, so if you make it worth my while with some reviews, I can have chapter nine up by the day's end. I think five reviews would be great. I don't know if that's realistic, but since the story has been live a week and I have two thousand hits, I think it shouldn't be too much to ask? Let me know what you think :)**


	9. Chapter 9

I reluctantly pried my eyes from Dimitri's face and turned to face Eddie with a smile. He was with Christian, who didn't look too happy about the situation. I was glad to know I wasn't the only one.

Eddie was dressed in guardian black, and he looked every bit the serious guardian he was. I felt a twinge of guilt at having cajoled him into helping me break Victor out of prison. Of course, nobody knew about that except the people in the room with us. Still, he had been reprimanded for leaving court with us, and that had delayed his appointment as a guardian. But he didn't seem to have any hard feelings when he smiled at me.

"Locking you up was one of the stupidest things the royal court has ever done. If there's a killer loose, Rose Hathaway is the first on my list of people I want to keep close."

"Thanks, Eddie." It meant a lot to me to hear him say that, because it was the unspoken message that the air between us was all clear.

"Well, the car is waiting. That will get us out the gate. After a few miles we will pull over and meet Abe's guardians. From there it's a nice long flight to Russia and a two hour drive to Baia."

"You're going to _Baia_?" I asked incredulously.

"We needed a place to stay that nobody would suspect. Abe was a little obvious since he is your dad and all. Dimitri contacted his family, and they were willing to accommodate us." Lissa looked apologetic, and I felt a little jealous. Dimitri's family had been so sweet to me, and entirely accepting of my relationship with him. There was a closeness in their family that was strikingly absent in mine, and it had made me want to stay with them. But I had left them without any explanation, and I really wanted to see them again.

I chose not to respond to that. Lissa grabbed her suitcase, and Adrian slung a backpack over his shoulder. I wanted to help somehow, but there was nothing for me to do. I hung back with Lissa as the boys filed out of the room.

"How did Christian react when you told him the plan?" I asked. Walking with them made me realize just how serious this was, and even if I was totally opposed to the idea, I shouldn't ostracize my friends for trying to help me. And so my tone with Lissa was pleasant, though it was a little forced since I was still keyed up about my encounter with Dimitri.

"The same way you did." Lissa said quietly. "He's giving me the silent treatment now."

"That's very mature." I muttered, shaking my head. But I didn't blame Christian for being upset, particularly since Christian could have gone with them. There was nothing from keeping him from going to Russia with them other than Lissa's will.

"I would do the same if he did this to me." Lissa said quietly. I looked at her in surprise.

"Then how can you leave? Knowing that, I mean."

"Because like I said, Rose. It is my turn to do what I can for you. I am going to help clear your name, even if it's the last thing I do."

"Oh, _come on! _Don't say that!" I yelled, and I think the sudden change in my tone must have startled Lissa into submission, cause she remained quiet for a little while. Just before we reached the car, she turned to me.

"Listen, I don't want you to feel pressured or anything, but this whole thing with Adrian and Dimitri…" Lissa hesitated. "Just know that whatever decision you make, do it gently. I know that Adrian said he knew what he was in for, but he really won't take it too well, and I just can't bear to-"

"Wait a minute," I cut her off; she was beginning to ramble anyways. "You just assumed that I was going to pick Dimitri?"

"I didn't say that," Lissa defended herself quietly.

"But you implied it." I countered automatically. "Why would you do that?"

"After that show you guys put on in my room?" She looked worried. "I know the way you feel about Dimitri. It was on your face."

"But what was on his face? Was it that same look?"

"It was different," Lissa admitted. "But he still clearly has feelings for you."

"What did it look like?" I asked, because now that she had mentioned it I had to know. I felt juvenile, but I hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary between us during that exchange, so I needed to know what Lissa had seen.

"He looked like he loved you. Like he would do anything to keep you safe." I closed my eyes for a moment, letting Lissa's revelation wash over me.

"And when Adrian looks at me?"

"It's the same. Like he would go to the end of the Earth to make you happy."

"And do you know how I feel when I look at them?" I didn't give her a chance to answer that, because I rushed right into the answer myself. "Like I would do anything to keep them in my life. I love them both, Lissa, in different ways. I can't stand the thought of either of them leaving me. It's petty and greedy, but I need both of them." This was the naked truth. That was as plain as I could have explained things to Lissa, because that was the only way I could explain things to myself. I wanted both of them in my life. My heart told me I needed both of them if it was supposed to keep beating and my brain said I needed to quit stringing Adrian along until I knew what I wanted. But I couldn't make my decision until I knew how Dimitri felt, and that was something I had to find out from him.

"You're not greedy, Rose. Just confused. I just wanted to tell you that and…"

"And what?" I asked, suspicious. Lissa looked reluctant to divulge the information, but she knew I would figure it out anyways.

"Well, I think Dimitri might have suggested Adrian come with me so he could have some time with you."

I laughed. "He wouldn't do that. You don't know him like I do." Lissa smiled, a peace offering.

"Well, either way, just be careful."

"You say that like I'm the one going to Russia. I'm stuck at court, Liss, what's the worst trouble I could possibly get into?" Lissa looked like she was about to answer that until Christian cut her off with a gentle hand on her shoulder. She gave me a meaningful look and I walked ahead to the car where Eddie stood with Adrian, who had a cigarette in his hands. Dimitri stood just a few feet away.

"It's not lit." Adrian said when he saw my eyes fall on the cigarette. "It was just a reflex." I smiled in spite of myself.

"Can I talk to you?" Adrian looked at the cigarette in his hand, as if deciding whether he might actually need it. He slid it into his pocket and we took a few steps away from the group. "I wanted to apologize for what happened in Lissa's room. That was really the first time I have had the chance to talk to him. My anger just kind of…exploded."

"I understand how you feel," Adrian said, catching me by surprise. I guess it showed on my face, because he added in, "I think."

I smiled. "Remember I told you that I think I love you a little?" Adrian's mouth twisted into a fond smile to match my own.

"Yeah, I think I recall. It went a little something like this." He brushed the hair off my neck in one swift move, kissing my neck. He let his fangs graze ever so gently against my neck and I felt as if all the air in my lungs was pulled from me. I pushed him away gently, giving him a wary look.

"Just come back in one piece, Adrian. And bring Lissa back too. I can't stand to let you guys go."

"Little Dhampir," Adrian said softly, his voice bordering on sincere. "I will always find my way back to you." I couldn't help smiling at that, and I drew him into a hug, scared to let go of him.

It was Lissa's voice in my head that made me break away from Adrian. _It's time to go. _I kissed Adrian quickly on the lips and found my way back to Lissa. "Lissa…" I didn't know what to say. In fact, I almost wanted to cry. This was the first time Lissa had left me, and now it was forcing me to think of when I had left her at St. Vladimir's to find Dimitri. When I returned, she made me promise that I would let her tag along on my next crazy adventure, which had been breaking Victor Dashkov loose. It was too bad I hadn't made her promise me the same thing. But then, I could have never imagined we would be in this situation.

Lissa knew what I was getting at. She pulled me into a hug. "I promise we'll be ok. I'll take care of him."

I smiled, as if I could confuse myself into thinking I wasn't about to cry. "Take care of yourself first,"

"We will be back as soon as we can. I promise I'll be here for your trial."

"Thanks." Thinking of my impending trial did not make things any easier. Lissa stepped back, and Eddie took her place.

"You aren't going to lose. We will prove your innocent. Just keep your nose clean while you're here."

"I'll be hiding out in Lissa's room for the next week. It's not like there's really a whole lot of trouble I could get into."

Eddie looked at me mildly, and I was about to laugh, until I noticed his eyes flicker in Dimitri's direction. He shook his head and moved to give me a hug. I wrapped my arms around him and stood on the balls of my feet to reach his ear. "Take care of them." I whispered.

"You know I will, Rose. I will protect them with my life."

I pulled away from him and took a step back. Eddie, Lissa, and Adrian stood by the car. Dimitri, Christian, and myself stood opposite them. It was an awkward parting.

"At least I'll have the trunk to myself this time." Lissa joked. I laughed, and even Eddie cracked a smile. The other boys were obviously confused, but I didn't care to explain it to them.

"Drive safe," I commanded Eddie. I didn't like the idea of him driving off with Lissa in the trunk, even though I knew there were really no other cars on these roads. We were pretty isolated. Eddie nodded, and opened the trunk for Lissa. I don't know where they got the car, as most guardian's drove in standard black SUV's, but whatever kind of car it was, the trunk looked a little bigger than last time. At least Lissa would have room to breathe in there.

"I'll be checking in." I told Lissa. She smiled at me knowingly, and Adrian helped her into the trunk. It was a really weird thing to see. I hadn't imagined how weird it must have looked when Lissa, Eddie, and I had crammed ourselves into the back of the truck; the adrenaline had been too high at the time.

Just before they shut the trunk on Lissa, I caught a glimpse of her face. She looked resolute; there was no fear in her expression, only determination. I looked at Adrian, who was about to climb into the passenger seat.

"I should go with you to where Abe's guardians will meet you. Somebody has to drive the car back."

"You can't." Said Dimitri quietly. "It's technically leaving the grounds, which would mean-"

"I know what it means," I said coldly. Eddie smiled cautiously at me.

"See you soon." And with no further exchange, he got into the passenger seat of the car. I watched them head down the road, and even after they disappeared from my sight I stood there watching where they had left. I was acutely aware of Dimitri's presence next to me, and I sighed. It was going to be a long week.

**A/N: No worries guys, I won't be holding out on you. I asked for five reviews so I could give myself some motivation to kick out chapter nine today because I knew it would be a crazy day (I got a new puppy after two months of missing my last baby, and first thing he did was pee on me!). But I wanted to post 2X today so that it covers yesterday too. I'm not going to be asking for 70 reviews anytime soon :) So, I posted, as promised. Hope you guys don't hate it. Much love, my readers.-BelleCeline**


	10. Chapter 10

When the car had entirely disappeared from my view, I had an urge to jump into Lissa's head, but I knew that doing so would be useless. I had an hour until I was due to meet Ambrose again, and while I ached to speak to Dimitri some more, I had to know what Christian had discovered in the guardian files. I decided I didn't care whether Dimitri knew what I had asked of Christian.

"So, did you get what we were looking for?" I asked him. Christian looked at me as though he had forgotten I was here.

"Not here. Come on, we need to get back to Lissa's room." The sun was no longer wrapped in beautiful colors, but instead was beginning to yellow out, fading against the lightly clouded sky. I nodded to show him I understood.

"Aren't you hungry?" Dimitri asked me. I turned to face him, and once again forgot to avoid looking into his eyes. I could feel myself falling into him, onto him, for him. His look cause me so much joy, and at the same time so much pain. I loved that his eyes were that fathomless brown again, rather than ringed in red as I had grown accustomed to in Russia.

And yet he was not the Dimitri I had loved before. He was both stronger and weaker; The things he had done as a strigoi, the death he had witnessed, mostly at his own hand, was something he could not bear to think about. But the worst part of it was not the people he had killed, and we both knew that. The worst of his actions as a strigoi had been his actions with me. He had kidnapped me, held me captive, and tirelessly tried to turn me into a strigoi. He had wanted to be together even then, but it had been for the wrong reasons. Dimitri could not forgive the fact that he had turned me into an addict, torturing me with endorphins and sexual intentions that he never did anything about. I had been as good as a blood whore.

I hadn't really thought about food. I had been released from the holding cell before lunch, and I hadn't eaten anything since then. "A little, I guess."

"I'll find food. You guys go back to Lissa's room."

I didn't like the way he thought he was in charge, but I did want food and I needed the chance to talk to Christian. I eyed him irritably, but turned and walked away with Christian beside me.

"I can't believe she wouldn't let me go." Christian said, frustrated.

I shrugged. "I'm sure she wanted you to. But if somebody noticed you were missing too, it might tip the royal court off that she isn't actually here."

"It is a free country," Christian said dryly. "She has every right to leave if she wants to."

"Yeah, but after the queen was murdered? It would be chaos. Besides, if anybody realizes she left court, I'll go back to my cell." Christian sighed. He knew I was right, and he did not want me to go back to the holding cells for a week, but I could still imagine his frustration.

We reached Lissa's room and entered. Christian locked the door behind us, I noted. "So, what did you find out?"

"It looks like the queen really did write you that letter." Christian reached into his pocket and produced a few sheets of official-looking paper. I stepped closer to him so I could see what was on them.

"What is it?" The writing was obvious, but there was no title or anything to indicate the topic of the paper.

"It was in an unmarked folder, filed under the Ivashkovs. I never realized how many of them there were."

"Royal families…" I muttered. It was funny, because even though Christian was royal, he did not act like the rest of them, nor did he associate himself with them.

"Yeah. But read what it says."

I looked at him doubtfully, not wanting to read pages of writing. But I took the papers into my hands and sat down on Lissa's bed with my legs crossed.

_It has occurred to me that death will seek all of us one day, though it will come differently for each of us. No matter our status or connections, we will all die alone, in one sense or another. It is for that reason that I have created this: my last will and testament. _

_I, Queen Tatiana Ivashkov, leave all sums of money to my nephew Adrian Matthias Ivashkov, in the hopes that he will not need it, but that he can make good use of it. _

_To my nephew Nathan Phillip Ivashkov, I leave my spot on the council. As the oldest remaining Ivashkov it falls to him to fulfill his duties of council. I hope that he will use this position of power in passing righteous laws and governing the moroi people to the best of his abilities. _

_To Guardian Rosemarie Hathaway I leave the following letters, all of which should be delivered to Miss Hathaway sealed and unhampered. Any disturbance of the letters will result in serious, fatal consequences for the Moroi people. _

_And to Vasilisa Dragomir, I leave the most precious of all my possessions. Only Miss Hathaway may reveal what I have bequeathed to Princess Dragomir. If the gift comes from any other source, Vasilisa is advised not to accept it. _

_Signed, her royal majesty Queen Tatiana Ivashkov._

_Tatiana Ivashkov_

Belowthe queen's signature were two others, and I had to look hard to realize who they belonged to. The first was an untidy scrawl that crammed the letters together. I did not recognize the penmanship, but the name read Ambrose DelAccoro. The name next to that was more regal, signed with precision. I almost didn't believe what I read.

"Tasha Ozera?" I asked, looking to Christian for explanation. He looked just as confused as I felt.

"That's what it says. I don't know why she would have been a witness though."

"Convenience, I guess." It was the only thing I could think of, because Tasha Ozera had not particularly been in the queen's good graces. "What letters is she talking about? The only one that I got was the one about Lissa having another living relative."

Christian shrugged, looking pensive. "I would think that the witnesses would know. Aunt Tasha and that Ambrose fellow."

"I'm meeting Ambrose in just a little while. I'll ask him about it then."

"What I want to know is what she left Lissa?"

"I don't know." I frowned. There wasn't much that Tatiana had actually had. As the queen, you would think she would have a ton of things to gift to others, but it wasn't as if she actually owned an estate or anything. She had lived on property that belonged to the Royal Court. As for her money, she had left that to Adrian. Her spot on the Ivashkov council had gone to Nathan. I couldn't see the queen making extensive lists of all of her clothing and jewelry.

"Maybe she named you her guardian." Christian suggested. It was possible, but it didn't seem like the kind of thing that would go in a person's last will and testament, particularly when she didn't have any rights over me to begin with.

"How many people do you think know about this?"

"My guess? Three. Ambrose, Aunt Tasha, and whoever filed that."

I jumped when I heard a knock on the door and Christian smiled mockingly at me. He went and unlocked the door, careful to peek out before allowing the person outside full access to the room. I turned to see Dimitri, his arms laden with boxes. Deciding I didn't want to explain this to him just yet, I opened the drawer next to Lissa's bed and tucked the pages inside a large book Lissa had been reading.

"I brought you guys food from the kitchens. They boxed up whatever they had down there, so there is enough food here for a feast."

I tried to hide a smile. It was odd to see him like that, my sexy Dimitri bringing us food. It was so normal, it hurt.

He set the box on a stand in the room and straightened, looking ready to back out. "Well, I won't eat all that myself. Stay for dinner, if you'd like." Again, I felt an insane desire to laugh bubble up within me. I didn't say these kinds of things often. I was not the domestic type, and normal wasn't a word I would associate myself with.

Dimitri shook his head. "I have to go. I'll be back in the morning to check on you."

I felt a lump form in my throat. When he had captured me in Novosibirsk, he had done pretty much this. He had a human servant bring me my food, but he came to check on me every morning and left me every night. It wasn't a time that I was nostalgic for.

"I'm not looking for a repeat of Russia." I told him harshly. I could see the recognition alight in his eyes, along with sorrow. He nodded swiftly and turned to leave. I couldn't bare to see him go. I chased him out the door.

"Dimitri, wait…"

"What is it?" He turned around, and the look on his face caught me off guard. I had thought maybe he would be mad. That would have made sense. Instead, he just looked weary.

"I've forgiven you." I told him, coming close to him. He eyed me suspiciously, like he was expecting a trick. "Why can't you forgive yourself?"

"Because when I look at you, it makes me think of all the bad things I did."

"I wanted to be with you. I didn't even care that you were a strigoi." I was working to keep my voice calm. I figured that if I started yelling he would just walk away.

"Only because I drugged you."

"I would do it again."

"Of course you would." He was working to keep his voice calm. "There's some masochistic part of you that makes you put yourself in danger time after time."

"I don't want to hurt. I want to feel whole, and happy." I was trying not to sound desperate, but I was. I'm sure he knew it too.

"Then the best thing you can do for yourself is move on from me." Those were words that I really didn't want to hear right now.

"How can I, when you haven't yourself?" It was the only thing I had. Dimitri could easily contest it if it weren't true, and I knew that. I was terrified he would answer me with something like he had in the church. _Love fades. _But all he did was turn around and walk away. That was as good as a confession.

**A/N: Have I told you lately that I love you? No? Well, I love you. Your responses are overwhelming. I feel that you should know that I never know what is going to happen until I write it; That's how I've been writing so far. So I don't really know yet if this is R/A or R/D. When I decide, I think Rose will too. Haha. That should keep you guessing. But if you have any requests, I may take them into consideration for future chapters. Til then, hope you liked it. Much love. =]**


	11. Chapter 11

A shower was the best, most trivial thing I could imagine, after food of course. Dimitri had brought us a ton of food, and everything looked sinfully good. I asked Christian to stay and help himself, but his mood was grim and so he declined. I ate what I could of what Dimitri had brought and put the rest in the mini fridge in Lissa's room. I jumped in the shower with twenty minutes to spare and stayed in there so long I was nearly late to meet Ambrose.

Feeling in a rush, I dressed in the only thing I could find: Clothes that belonged to Lissa, which were tight since she was so tall and slender with a moroi's build. I tugged at the bottom of a red polo shirt I'd grabbed from her drawer, in an effort to cover my stomach as I headed out the door. I made a note to swing by my room and grab some of my own clothes.

Ambrose was already waiting for me when I arrived at our meeting spot. He looked considerably better than he had before. I figured he must have gotten a nap in, and the thought reminded me that I was in need of some sleep myself. He smiled when he saw me. "You look good." He remarked pleasantly.

"Thanks. You too." I watched him for a minute, wondering why he looked so giddy. I decided that maybe he was in overdrive from stress and lack of sleep, but when I looked down, I noticed the fresh bite mark on his neck. My stomach tightened into a ball and I shifted uncomfortably, crossing my arms around myself. Ambrose didn't seem to notice anything. "I hope you didn't go to too much trouble to get those files."

"It was nothing." He handed me a plain-looking folder that was stuffed with some papers.

"I wanted to ask you something…" I ventured, and Ambrose nodded his consent. I paused for a minute, wondering how to ask the question. I decided to jump right into it. "Did the queen have a will?"

Ambrose blinked. "A will?"

"Yeah. As in, an official living will."

"She had one." He said calmly. "I don't know how official it was, though."

"Did she leave me anything?" It probably came as a weird question to him, seeing as I had made it clear on more than one occasion that I hadn't much cared for Queen Tatiana. Ambrose smiled at me.

"I think you already know that."

I stared at him, unwavering. "I want to hear it from you."

"She left you some letters." He said casually.

"So I read. Only problem is, I didn't get any letters."

"Well, naturally, you wouldn't have." Ambrose sounded amused. I raised an eyebrow at him, beginning to grow impatient. "The queen was _murdered_, Rose." _As if I needed that reminder. _

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"It has everything to do with anything. Her will could be used as evidence if the prosecution gets ahold of it." That happy high of his was beginning to fade, and he looked like he was growing weary.

"Evidence for what?" I asked, irate. Hopefully, it would be the '_Let's prove Rose Hathaway is innocent' _type .

"Anything at all, depending on the contents of the will. If I recall correctly, Lord Ivashkov was the heir to the Queen's fortunes?"

I appraised him coolly, wondering just what he was getting at. I wondered how that must have sat with him; He had considered the queen a mother-figure but she'd neglected to give him anything in her will. "He was."

"There's your motive." He said calmly.

"That's ridiculous," I said, writing the idea off as stupid. "Have you forgotten that he is the queen's nephew…her _favorite_ nephew?"

"Have you forgotten that he is linked to you explicitly? He was with you the night the queen was murdered and you are the main suspect."

"Nobody would look at him; He's not guilty."

"And neither are you. Yet here you are, the court's main suspect."

"That's different. They have evidence against me."

"And that's my point." Ambrose smiled, but it was not because he was happy. It was something like apologetic. "Adrian was only my example, you see. If the court suspected Adrian rather than you, than the primary motive would be the queen's disapproval of your relationship. But then imagine they found out he was going to get all the queen's money. That's as good as a confession."

"And you think it would be the same with me?" I asked uncertainly.

"I know it would. Our justice system is blind, Rose. The moroi court is hopelessly flawed, despite the best intentions."

"But the queen was not my benefactor." I frowned.

"You were in her will. She left you something."

"Only letters. What kind of motive is that? Killing the queen so I could get an advancement on letters I would have gotten anyways?" The thought was asinine, but I knew he had a point.

"It doesn't matter what kind of motive it is; It's a motive all the same."

"So you're saying they have my letters?"

"I don't know that for sure, but it's possible…" He paused. "And very likely."

"And could they open those letters if they wanted?"

"It's the royal court," He reasoned, and I could hear the unasked question in his tone. _What do you think?_

I sighed in frustration. "I'm going to get what is rightfully mine." I warned him.

He smiled. "I would expect nothing less from you." 

I went back to my room on the way to Lissa's and grabbed a bag. Without really thinking about what I was packing I grabbed some clothes, and took the pillow off my bed. I remembered my toothbrush at the last minute, but when I turned back to get it, I noticed the table next to my bed had a drawer open. I went to go look at it, and was beginning to wonder if I'd been robbed when I remembered my hearing. My room had been searched, in an effort to recover my stake. I slammed the drawer shut with more force than was necessary, brooding over my loss of privacy. The drawer slammed back into the stand with a violence that caused the lamp to shake. Something fell off my stand and rolled onto the floor, making a tinny sound.

I got down on my knees to look for the source of the noise. Lifting the bed skirt, I found the culprit. A cold terror swept through me as my fingers grazed the object. _It can't be. _I was scared to look, afraid that my fears would be confirmed. A nervous knot formed in my stomach as my fingers closed over the cold metal. I drew my hand out from under the bed and steeled myself to look. _Shit._

I walked from my room in a haze, my fingers cold. I let my feet take me to Lissa's door, as my head was nowhere near focused on where I was going. I sat in Lissa's room, feeling like a sitting duck. I looked at the necklace in my hand and shivered at the meaning it conveyed. Though the necklace was beautiful, and had most certainly been expensive, I could not be happy when I looked at it. The last time I had seen it was when Dimitri dropped it out the window at St. Vladimirs. It had been charmed, making the lust between Dimitri and I grow to nearly unstoppable lengths. We had been on the pinnacle of doing something dangerous, and even though I wanted him so badly that night, I was glad he had realized the necklace was charmed. It had been a distraction, invented to keep us busy. I would have never imagined I would see that necklace again. And yet…

I was too nervous to relax. _Victor Dashkov was here. Victor was in my room. _We had more or less figured out that Victor had framed me, using Robert's compulsion to assist him in his dark deeds. But this necklace was real, solid proof. It took things to a new level, and while I would never admit this to anyone, I almost felt glad that Lissa and Adrian had left court. Surely they were safer than they would be here if Victor was still running around. I fingered the ridges of the pendant, recalling the night of the lust spell. Dimitri, warm and sweet, his hands all over me. Thinking of that made my heart ache, and I decided to slip into Lissa's head. Or rather, try to.

Lissa was asleep, apparently in a dreamless slumber. I could feel no emotions through the bond other than complacency. Her feelings didn't flood into me the way they did when she was feeling something strong or passionate. Instead, they wrapped me up in a cocoon of comfort, enveloping me like the sweet cadence of a lullaby. Despite my anxiety over the necklace, I began to drift away from reality, falling ever so gently into sleep.

**A/N: Every day my love for you guys grows. When I log on and see that all this work and effort I'm putting into this story is not going to waste and that you guys are loving it more and more, I just want to make sure I can give you guys everything you deserve. You readers are so fabulous, and I would have liked to update you last night, because _you so deserve it._ But saturday is game night. I cleaned house in Tripoley. Too bad we only play with pennies...I'd be a millionaire. :) Keep reading & keep reviewing, because I'm addicted to you guys ;) Love Ya, BelleCeline.**


	12. Chapter 12

I fell asleep and went from one nightmare to the next. Except, I wasn't having a nightmare at first, only a dream. And it started off as one of the sweetest dreams I could have imagined. Dimitri and I were back in the cabin together, our bodies entwined, our hearts beating as one. We were high up on a cloud, in a state of bliss; untouchable. And then I turned to look at Dimitri, and he was a strigoi, complete with red-ringed eyes and fangs. He pushed me flat on my back in one quick move and positioned himself over me so that his fangs were poised perfectly over my neck. I wasn't scared though…I wanted this.

But Dimitri didn't bite me. Instead he grabbed my necklace between his teeth and bit hard. The chain broke loose and my nazar fell to the ground, making a resonant clatter. Without it, I felt naked and cold, despite being fully clothed. But Dimitri was there, and he fastened something else around my neck. I looked down and realized it was the rose pendant. Fear took hold of me. I looked up, and the world was beginning to dissolve around me.

I felt frantic, until I recognized the dream I was in. I was right here, in Lissa's bed. But I knew this wasn't reality, because Adrian was sitting on the bed next to me, looking at me in concern. "Hello, Little Dhampir." He whispered, "Bad dream?"

"It just got a lot better." I smiled, sitting up so I could wrap my arms around him. "I miss you already."

"I miss you too." He murmured into my ear. His hand was tangled in my hair, like he was scared he would have to leave me.

"I didn't think you would visit so soon." I said into his shoulder. Adrian pulled away from me and smiled.

"I couldn't stay away." He kissed me on the nose, and it was unexpected, but it was so tender I felt overwhelmed with desire. I shifted, pulling him on top of me. I held him close for a moment and listened to the sound of our hearts beating.

"Is everything ok?" I asked him quietly.

"We're fine. Lissa's asleep, Eddie is sitting in the seat behind us. Abe's guardians are…"

"Pleasant?" I asked mockingly. Adrian smiled wryly.

"Sure." I closed my eyes for a moment. I was still so tired. "Should I go?" Adrian whispered. My eyes flew open and I tightened my grip on him.

"No. You should stay."

Adrian smiled, opening his mouth to speak. I didn't give him an opportunity to do so though, because I tilted my head up towards him and pressed my lips to his. He kissed me back, sweetly and gently, until our glacial pace was driving me insane. I began to deepen the kiss, and Adrian didn't object. I gasped when he kissed my neck; I couldn't help myself. Seeing Ambrose with his marks had made me feel anxious for that high-flying feeling, like I was weightless. I wanted so badly to feel that way again, like there was nothing going on in my life worth thinking of. When he felt my reaction, Adrian pulled away a little and looked at me anxiously. "Are you ok?"

"I could be better." I said in all seriousness, trying to draw him back towards me. Adrian resisted, though I saw a smile on his face.

"That's not a good idea, Rose." He said seriously.

"What's not good about it?" I asked impishly. I pressed my lips to his before he could tell me exactly what was wrong with it. His lips were soft and warm, and the feeling was surreal. I wasn't thinking that we were not doing this in reality, because he was all that was real to me in that moment. He was all I would ever need.

Adrian pulled away with a great show of effort. "Because I don't want to get addicted. It can be dangerous, Rose."

"I like danger. Besides, it's too late. I'm already addicted to you."

"You aren't going to make this easy on me." He observed, taking in my earnest expression. I smiled a little and shook my head. Adrian grinned and he leaned back down towards me. His lips kissed my neck, like the touch of an angel, until I was just about mad with desire. I didn't know what I wanted more. Him or the endorphins. Sensing my impatience, Adrian let the tips of his fangs press into my neck ever so gently, so slowly…

I jumped into him when there was a knock on the door, and I woke from my dream in a total state of disarray. It took me a moment to realize where Adrian had went, and when I realized I had been dreaming I was so overwhelmed by disappointment that I almost didn't want to get up to answer the door. But there was another knock and I sighed. I rose from the bed angrily, swinging my hair over my neck. I didn't think to check who was outside before I opened the door.

When I saw who was out there, my anger dissipated, and I sighed in frustration. I stepped aside wordlessly, and Dimitri entered. "You weren't answering." He said coolly.

"How long have you been out there?"

"Only a few minutes. I was getting ready to break the door down."

"You have no right-"

"I'm going to keep you safe. I thought something happened, and so I came to check on you."

"Why would you think something happened?"

"Because you didn't answer the door the first couple of times I knocked." I stared at him harshly.

"I was sleeping."

"I see." Dimitri said, glancing at me quickly. He seemed embarrassed to see me in my shorts and tank top, as if that were any more revealing then being naked with him.

"Well, I hope you have a good reason for waking me up." A really good reason.

"It just so happens I do. I just got back from a hearing."

"What did I do this time?" I asked anxiously. Dimitri's mouth twitched a little bit.

"It wasn't about you. It was about the queen."

"But the queen's-"

"Dead." Dimitri confirmed. "Precisely. We've been three days without a monarch for the crown."

I sighed. I really should have paid attention in school, because if I had, I wouldn't have had to ask Dimitri what I did.

"How do they decide on the monarch?"

"It's the oldest royal."

"So then why are we having a hearing?" I asked moodily. Politics got me upset because they made me think about the quorom, and how I had to find Lissa's sibling to get her a voice in court.

"Because the next oldest Royal is Victor Dashkov." Dimitri said with disdain.

I laughed. "Victor Dashkov is a criminal."

"Which would imply he's not suited for the throne."

"Because he's not." I said, noting that he'd said 'imply'. I didn't like something about that.

"Well, the royal court needs to decide what they are going to do. If they agree that Victor isn't fit, then they have to vote on a new monarch."

"Wouldn't it just be the next oldest?" I asked. That would be logical; The line of succession.

Dimitri shook his head. "If the first two in the line are unavailable, our rules are pointless. The title goes to the popular vote."

"Which would be?" I questioned, assuming that he would know.

"That's what has to be decided. The problem is, all royals are eligible for the title. And all royals are also eligible to vote."

That piqued my interest. _All royals. _My thoughts turned to Lissa. Would she finally have her say in the court? I needed to pull through for her, so that she could have a say in who was the next monarch. That was all I wanted for her. But that meant I would have to work even faster to find Lissa's sibling. I sighed, and then remembered my dream, and my thoughts turned back to last night.

I walked away wordlessly and grabbed the rose necklace off of the nightstand. Holding it in my palm felt like a flame, burning through me. I slammed it down on the table in front of Dimitri with more force than was necessary, and with even more than I had intended. "Look familiar?"

After the brief confusion passed, I saw recognition alight in Dimitri's eyes. He stared at the necklace a moment, and then turned to look at me. His gaze was filled with an unusual intensity. I felt myself heating up under his eyes. Dimitri shook his head, freeing himself of those wonderful memories. I wished he would stay back there a little longer, reminisce a little more, if only because I knew it would mean he was thinking of me. "Where did you get this?"

"I stopped by my room last night to get a few things. I found this there."

"But this can't be…"

"The same one that you dropped out the window at St. Vladimir's." I confirmed.

"We can't be sure." Dimitri's words declared doubt, but his tone insinuated that he too thought it was the very same necklace Victor Dashkov had given me.

"I'm sure that somebody framed me for murder and used my stake to kill the queen. You don't think that when Victor broke into my room to find my stake, he could have left me that?"

"It could have happened." Dimitri conceded. "But why would he leave this? And how would he have gotten it again in the first place? I doubt he went back to the academy and started digging around in the dirt looking for it."

"I don't know how he got it," I said quietly. "But I know why he would leave it here."

"Which is?"

"A calling card. Victor wants me to know he did it. He wants me to find him."

**A/N: So there's some Adrian for you. But fear not my little Dimka fans, because Dimitri's chance is coming now. If only the lust charm still worked...but they don't need it anyways. =] Oh, and can I just say..._SIXTY THREE REVIEWS_? Thank you guys so much for all of the reviews. It means a lot to me to hear what you guys think, or what you want to see. So keep up the hard work, and I'll keep up my end of the bargain and have you another chapter by tomorrow night. Much love to you. **


	13. Chapter 13

Dimitri's disbelief didn't need to be questioned. I knew him well enough to read his emotions and his body language; He thought I was crazy. "You're assuming that Victor Dashkov killed the queen." I looked at him now like he was the crazy one.

"I think we all agree on that point."

"And why would he do that?"

"You just told me that yourself. Because he is the next oldest royal. He would have become the King under normal circumstances."

"We both know these aren't normal circumstances, though, don't we Rose?"

Rose? My heart ached when he said my name. I felt nostalgic, like I was missing a part of myself. I longed for him to call me Roza again, to show some endearment, some sort of longing for what we'd had before.

"He's a criminal." I told Dimitri. My tone had shifted from cordial to hold all the frigid indifference of a stranger. "It's not too hard to imagine him killing the queen. What does he have left to lose?"

"His freedom."

"He's free by a mistake." I said acerbically. "It's not really his to tempt fate with."

"A mistake? You mean you didn't intend on breaking him out of jail? It just sort of…happened?" Dimitri suggested, trying to make me realize my lack of explanation.

I gave him the hardest look I could manage. "I broke him out with every intention of returning him when I was done with him."

"You don't think he would have told them who broke him out?"

"Of course he would say who did it. But nobody would believe him. I mean, me being involved can't be much of a surprise to anybody, especially now that I'm a murder suspect. But Lissa and Eddie? Nobody would believe they would have done something like that, and besides, we would have denied it. The word of a criminal versus the word of two guardians and an important royal? Who would you believe?"

Dimitri smiled. "Knowing you? I'd believe Victor."

I looked away from him. I was not angry at him per se, but something about what he had said struck a chord. My thoughts turned to our conversation, or rather our argument, from last night. I had gone to such great lengths to save him… I had endangered Lissa, gambled with Eddie's future, and used Adrian's credit cards to fund the whole thing. In my exploits, I had failed to kill Dimitri as a strigoi twice. And it hadn't been for naught. Dimitri was very much alive. But it was like a part of him was dead to me. If he no longer loved me, if a part of his heart had indeed been irreversibly hardened and he would never hold me close again, than I would have to bury Dimitri all over again. I had done this twice already; a third time would be unbearable. I couldn't bring myself to imagine a happy ending without him in it.

And now everything I had done for his freedom was coming back to bite me in the ass. Victor killed the queen. Victor framed me for it. And now he was making idle threats; he wanted me to risk leaving court and find him. The chain reaction that had formed as a result of my actions was growing darker, setting off further reactions. The injustice of it all was eating at me.

I didn't even realize that tears had been forming in my eyes until I felt one course down my cheek. Aghast at my weakness, I wiped it away and angled my body away from Dimitri in an effort to hide my powerlessness. But I moved too late, and Dimitri saw that lone tear make it's way down my cheek. A flash of regret crossed his face, and he moved toward me in a fluid motion. I turned again out of his reach.

Not to be swayed by my rejection, Dimitri stepped in front of me, placing a hand on my cheek, the gentleness of it making me recall our night together in the cabin. I closed my eyes, willing the unshed tears away, and opened them again. His face was pained, and that provided me with no measure of comfort. In fact, it just made me angry. I swatted his hand away and took a step back.

"I'm sorry, Roza." He said quietly. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

"That's rich." I said sharply. "Of course you didn't mean to hurt me. You're so damn scared to hurt me that you won't even look at me."

Dimitri was looking at the ground in front of him. I looked down at my bare feet and sighed. That was all the proof I needed. My fury overflowed; There was no more room for it anymore. I let go of it and took a deep, steadying breath. I put a hand under his chin and tipped it up. Though I was much shorter than him, it gave me the advantage I needed to get him to look at me. I wanted to say something to him, but when his eyes fell on mine, words didn't seem strong enough.

I didn't think; I just acted on animal instinct. I brought my mouth to his in a quick movement, our lips crushing together violently as a result of my haste. Dimitri was much too taken by surprise to stop, and I liked it that way.

I kissed him feverishly, pushing all of my energy and passion into that moment. I kissed him with reckless abandon, pulling him into me as much as I could, scared that he would come to his senses and pull away.

But he didn't. Instead he warmed into the kiss, returning some of the very same torrid passion I was feeling. I began to grow high on his acceptance, his continuation of this kiss. I didn't dare stop to give him time to consider what we were doing, or where we might be headed.

I felt lightheaded when his hands began to snake up my back, resting momentarily on my shoulders before he slipped his deft fingers under the right strap and pushed it down my shoulder. I pushed him ever so gently toward the bed, and felt pleased with myself when he didn't resist. He moved his hands up my arms, sending chills running down my spine. Dimitri ran his hands through my hair, his fingers getting tangled up at the nape of my neck. I moved even closer to him, our bodies pressing into each other perfectly, like two halves being reunited.

I tipped him back onto the bed, though still holding him close. He pulled back from me for a moment, and I noticed just how heavily he was breathing. I tried to listen to myself breathing, but I couldn't notice anything over the frenetic beating of my heart hammering at my chest.

Dimitri looked at me in awe, and I could see the memories of our past reflected in his brown eyes. I felt a little smug; _Let's see him try to deny that he loves me now. _I leaned down, bringing our lips together once more. He warmed into me again and continued the kiss, taking it even further this time.

He held me tightly now, so there was no chance of my getting away, as if I would want that. Dimitri tossed me gently on the bed next to him and quickly rolled over onto me, covering me up with his body. He loosed the other strap of my shirt, and I looked at him in anticipation, my body quaking with the possibility of him. And then I noticed he was frowning.

"What's wrong?" I asked nervously.

"Your neck…" He brushed his hand over those old scars. I would probably always have some kind of scar there, even if it was only a fair one, because of when I had escaped with Lissa and then because of my time with Dimitri. I worried about whether Adrian's teeth had left any fresh marks, but that wasn't possible, I realized, since I'd only been dreaming. "All that time in Russia…I hurt you so badly."

I sat upright and placed my hand gently on top of Dimitri's. "You didn't hurt me."

"I know what I did. I remember everything so vividly. It's like watching myself in a movie, doing all those things I did. Killing, stealing…" His voice shook and he stayed quiet for a moment. I hadn't really known he'd stolen anything, but I suppose I should have been able to figure that out seeing as he was always lavishing me with nice jewelry. "I wish I could take it back. I wish I could do it over, that I had died instead of being turned."

"How could you say that?" I demanded, my voice rising above that of a mellow conversation.

"It would be better for everybody if it had happened that way."

"You're _alive_. How could you think it would be better to be dead than this?"

"Because then everything could have stayed the way it was, just without me in it. You could have been Lissa's guardian-"

"I am Lissa's guardian," I pointed out stonily.

"But you wouldn't be in danger. Victor would still be locked up, and you would be safe."

"That's a stupid thing to say." I watched him moodily. It wasn't a very good focal point for my argument, but it was the truth.

"You think it's stupid that I'd rather die than ruin your life and put you in jeopardy?" Now his voice was the one that had risen a few octaves higher than necessary. He looked offended by my comment, and I hoped he realized that this was the same way I had felt last night when he'd told me gambling with my future for his life wasn't a risk worth taking. Now that the shoe was on the other foot, I wondered if he would realize his hypocrisy.

"I think it's stupid that you're worrying about something you can't change." I said calmly. "We can fix the future, Dimitri. Everything can be like it was before."

"No it can't." His voice had fallen again, and he sounded defeated. But he still insisted on arguing with me.

"Why? Because you don't love me anymore?" Dimitri closed his eyes, gathering his patience.

"I can't love you. But I can protect you. I can keep you safe, and I swear on my life that I will." I laughed, and he looked at me startled. That was clearly not the response he'd been expecting.

"That's not good enough."

"What more do you want?" He asked warily. It was a foolish question, though, because he knew exactly what it was that I wanted.

"I want you to love me."

"I'm not capable of that anymore." He said sadly. My rage returned, and I let Dimitri have it.

"If you would try instead of closing off your mind, maybe you'd find that it's not all that hard! You find somebody who makes you happy and you stick with them. That's all there is to it!"

"I can't do that to you. All I can offer is my protection."

"I have enough people to protect me, damn it! I can take care of myself! I just need somebody to love me!"

Dimitri looked resigned as he looked at me. He stood up slowly. "I think Lord Ivashkov has that covered."

"I want you."

"I can't…"

"Fine. I can't do this anymore. I need all of you or none of you. If you can't love me anymore, then you just need to leave me." Dimitri looked pained, but he nodded.

"I don't blame you, Roza." He said softly, just before slipping out the door. Angry, I picked up the first thing I could find and threw it at the door, where his head had been only moments before. The rose pendant rolled under Lissa's dresser, and I left it there. I wanted to cry, but I was done with that. Dimitri didn't deserve my tears anymore. I laid on Lissa's bed and closed my eyes, willing myself to sleep.

**A/N: Don't hate me! There's more to come. Dimitri and Rose had to be separated for future reasons. I had so much fun writing this chapter, but the whole time I was like: my readers are going to hunt me down and kill me. :) But you shouldn't do that, because I love you and you are all amazing. Every one of you. I hope you guys read and review, and hope that you Twilight fans like myself get to enjoy Eclipse tonight :) ttyl. Love always, Belle.**


	14. Chapter 14

Sleep did not come for me, of course. I laid in bed for God knows how long, wishing that the blissful ignorance of a dreamless slumber would roll over me and keep me under for a few hours. But it did not happen, which was just as well, considering if I fell asleep I might risk Adrian visiting and I couldn't bare to face him yet. When I realized the effort was futile I rose from the bed and went to find the file that I'd gotten from Ambrose. I hadn't looked through it last night, since I'd grown distracted with the appearance of Victor's necklace.

I scrutinized every piece of paper in the file, poring over the details until my vision began to blur and separate the words so that I saw everything twice. When that happened I paused momentarily to blink or to get up and pace around the room, before delving right back into the fray of information.

The information that the files contained was interesting, if anything. I could certainly see how the queen had come to the conclusion that there was an illegitimate Dragomir out in the world.

Eric Dragomir had a room at the Witching Hour that he always rented. Every time it was the very same one: room 632. The records from his check in and check out days indicated that he would go to that room for only one night every two weeks. He would keep the room the full day and then check out again exactly twenty four hours from when he had checked in. Unfortunately, the date of his last check-out was thirteen years ago. The implication there was that Eric must have stopped visiting his mistress when he found out she was pregnant. That would put Lissa's remaining sibling at about fourteen.

There were hefty deposits into a bank account in some small town called Grosse Ile located in Michigan. I took that as a good sign; A small town would suggest that locating the proximity of the Dragomir wouldn't be too hard. How many Moroi could there be in a small town? Unfortunately, the name on the account wasn't listed; the words Jane Doe were typed in brackets, as Sydney had mentioned. So the account wasn't Eric Dragomir's. It belonged to a woman. I looked over the deposit information. It appeared that there were annual deposits of $600,000 dollars going into the account. The last deposit was listed as June 29th of last year. After scanning the list, I came to the conclusion that the deposit was made every year on the 29th of June. That would mean that whoever Jane Doe was, as of tomorrow, she would be $600,000 dollars richer.

I sighed, my mind muddled. That was such a large amount of money. I didn't know how much it would cost to raise a child, and frankly I had no intentions of figuring that out any time soon, but $600,000 times fourteen years was approximately 8.4 million dollars. That seemed a bit excessive, but who was I to judge? My guess was that some of that money would be bribe money; the kind that says I'll make sure you have a good life if you don't tell my wife I got you knocked up.

I felt a sense of doom as I thought about it. I was probably going to have to find some stuck up, prudish bitch and convince her that she was a Dragomir. I didn't have any tolerance for spoiled people; Sure, if they didn't act like it, I could manage, but the people that flaunted their wealth in front of others? I didn't stand for that shit.

I looked through the list of withdrawals, surprised by what I found. The last withdrawal had been made five years ago, in the amount of $16,489 dollars. Prior to that, there were very few withdrawals in the account, and none of them were even in excess of a thousand dollars. I dismissed that information, looking at the remaining balance: $7,998,665.42. As of tomorrow that number would increase to $8,598,665.42. Of course, I didn't know how much money Lissa had to her name, but I didn't estimate it to be anywhere near that much.

I wanted to tell Lissa that, but I still hadn't explained to her that she had a half-sibling that was still alive somewhere. I should probably drop the bombs one at a time. Besides, I didn't have any way to get a hold of Lissa, except to call Abe, which she had insisted I not do. I was nearly finished reading the files when a knock on the door made me jump. My mood turned dark as I thought of Dimitri, and I decided if it was him I would slam the door in hi face. But when I opened the door, Christian came in instead.

"What happened in here?" He asked, looking at the table. I had spread the files out everywhere. The pages were grouped together in whatever random order my mind had come up with, covering the table and the floor. The bed was over-run by pages and pages of typed papers, the print too small and close together. There were also hand-written observations there, which I hadn't yet looked over because of the miniscule, cramped writing.

"I got the files that the queen had stolen from the alchemists." I said, looking around the room. "We've got a good lead now. The bank deposits are made to a Patriot Savings in Grosse Ile, Michigan."

"So Lissa's dad was a regular at the Witching Hour in Las Vegas, but he had a bank account in some backwoods place in Michigan? Sounds to me like he might have had more than one mistress." I frowned. Leave it to Christian to point out that things could always be worse than I thought.

"I don't think so. There's only one bank account listed in here, which is odd. I wonder where he kept his family's money?"

"In his mattress?" Christian suggested, his voice full of indifference.

"He was a little smarter than that." I said brusquely. I was staring at the papers on the bed, thoughtful. "Whoever the last Dragomir is, I think they're better off than Lissa."

Christian looked at me doubtfully. Lissa was financially well-off, as the only heir (except for the illegitimate child, of course) to the Dragomir fortune. I couldn't say how much money she had, but I don't know that it was anything like eight million dollars. I frowned, wondering where the annual $600,000 came from. And then a thought occurred to me.

"This bank account gets a yearly deposit of 600,000 dollars. It happens every year on the 29th of June." I pointed at the paper that showed the deposit record.

"That's tomorrow." Christian remarked.

"Yes. But the money has to come from somewhere; If it's automatic then that means it comes straight out of one account and goes into another."

"Congratulations on learning the ways of automatic banking." Christian said dryly. He was not nearly as excited as I was by the prospect.

"This money is coming out of Lissa's account!" I felt like I'd solved a murder mystery or something. I suddenly let go of those negative feelings I'd been holding and let myself feel like I was happy again.

"You mean her parent's account?" Christian tried. Legal litigations had wrapped Lissa's money up into one account. She received an allowance of sorts, but now she was able to take care of her own fortune.

I shook my head. "No. Lissa is eighteen now, remember? She has the full rights over the Dragomir fortune and estate. It's all hers."

"Yeah? So, I'm dating a millionaire."

"That's not my point. If Lissa has control over it, she can stop the funds from being transferred."

"That's a little rude, don't you think?" Christian asked.

"When the hell did you find morals?" I looked at him in mild surprise. "I mean to say that if she can stop the money from going into that account, then she can also find out details about the account, right? She deserves to know where half a million dollars of her money is going every year."

"So then we have to get Lissa to talk to whoever previously controlled the estate. She must have a lawyer of something who controlled her finances, right?"

I nodded. I had read the name of that person in the papers somewhere. "Yeah. Damon Tarus."

Christian sucked in a breath. "I don't like that man."

"Do you even know him?" I almost laughed. Christian gave me a look that suggested he knew him a lot better than I might think.

"He was supposed to control my parent's money. His job was to keep it locked up in the account and preside over my annuities until I turned eighteen. Instead of getting me my money, he kept it locked up until I turned eighteen. All that time I lived off of Aunt Tasha's income. I don't think the amount I have now is the full amount I should have."

I sighed. "Wonderful. We need to get that information from him."

"We'll have Lissa do it. Like you said, she has a right to know."

"I can't tell Lissa until I know for sure. Christian, this is going to hurt her. She would have never figured her father would have done something like this." Hell, even I never would have imagined he would have a child with another woman.

"If we don't tell her, how are we going to get that information? Tarus won't just give it to us."

"I guess we're going to have to get crafty." 

**A/N: A short, boring chapter. But it was crucial information that they had to get one way or another. I meant to post last night and the internet wasn't working, so you might possibly get another chapter later tonight. Thank you so much. I checked my reviews on my phone while I was waiting for Eclipse (I'm such a dork) and I nearly died of laughter...and excitement! I appreciate all that you guys do and you make my day so entertaining. =] I Lovelovelove you guys. **


	15. Chapter 15

This was not what I had in mind when I mentioned getting crafty. I had figured maybe capturing a moroi and making them compel Tarus into giving us the information. Or maybe hiding in a big cake or something, like a Trojan Horse. Instead, I had to walk right up to Damon Tarus and ask him for the information. Which I might not have contested, had I not been dressed like a doll.

Christian found Mia and asked her for her assistance on the matter. Once again, Mia hadn't known what we were doing all this for, but she had been willing to help in any way she could. That's why I suggested Mia try to tempt Tarus into revealing that information. Of course, I felt bad about asking her to do something like that, but she had slept with Jesse and Ralf to get them to do her bidding. All I was asking for now was a little flirtation.

Christian didn't like the plan at all, though Mia said it was a good idea seeing as Tarus was so shady he would probably fall for it. But Mia couldn't tempt him and compel him at the same time as using her water powers, and her elemental magic was crucial to keeping him at bay while Christian searched the office. And so I agreed to do it. Of all the embarrassing things I have ever done, this just might be the worst. Mia insisted that we could find another way to get what we needed, and Christian swore up and down that this was a big mistake, but I was desperate. We needed that information as soon as possible, seeing as we were working on a timeline of a week and a half. And honestly, I was feeling a little reckless. Ok, a lot reckless.

Everything that had happened with Dimitri had made me upset, but I couldn't let myself think about it. I had delved into piles of papers to keep my mind off of him, and yet I was still so frustrated over him. I had to do something rash to keep from thinking of him, and this was as good as jumping off a roof. I could have come up with an alternate plan, provided I had the time. But I was in need of instant gratification, and so this was the best plan we had.

Mia suggested that I wear something flirty, and so I reluctantly donned a casual little sun dress that hung in Lissa's closet. I let Mia do my hair in curls, seeing as we had time to kill until we would put our plan into action, and slipped on a pair of hellish high heels to make her happy. But when she suggested I let her do my make-up too, I drew the line. Even without any on, I looked pretty tempting…Like a nice, respectable, blood whore.

"You guys swear to me that we aren't ever going to speak of this again?" I asked them, just before we left Mia's house. Christian was sulking, and Mia looked nervous. That made two of us.

"It'll be between the three of us." She agreed with a nod of the head. We both looked at Christian, standing against the wall with his arms crossed.

"Whatever. I won't tell anybody."

I swallowed as we headed across the Court's grounds, in the direction of the offices. Damon's office was in a building that housed several other legal divisions, according to Christian. That made the thought of stealing from him a little more daunting.

"Christian will go in right after you get him out of there, Rose. Keep him distracted as long as you can and I'll let you know when we're ready." Mia gave me an encouraging smile. I hoped she couldn't see that I was pretty scared by the prospect. It was like when I'd gone to Victor in Tarasov all over again.

"Alright. Here I go." I returned her smile and strode into the building, putting up a confident front. Christian had grudgingly told me how to find Damon's office, so I found my way there pretty easily. Through the glass windows I saw him sitting there behind his lap-top, a coffee mug on the desk next to him. I opened the door and walked in with a small smile on my face (I think it was a smile, but as disgusted as I was by this, it very well might have been a grimace). When he looked up and saw me he shut his laptop in record time, yet still managing to do so smoothly, like he'd had tons of practice in doing that.

"Hathaway," He said, with a slight frown. "What are you here for?"

I hadn't expected a very gracious welcome, considering I'd snubbed him in public at my trial by choosing Abe over him. I still wasn't sure whether that had been the right decision; Damon clearly didn't think it was. Though he was a little sleazy, he was apparently one of the best in his profession.

"I came to apologize." I said, deciding not to lay it on too thick just yet. Damon looked surprised, but he nodded to indicate that I should go ahead with my apology. "I didn't know what I was doing when I chose. I just wanted to go ahead and hear what they had against me."

"Abe Mazur is a low-life." Damon said. I tried to ignore the anger that flooded through my veins at that. It was kind of funny that it should upset me so much, even if he was my father.

"I just picked him because…" I groped for an answer, and I blurted one out before I even considered. "I just wouldn't have imagined you would be so good. I mean, brains and brawn?" I sauntered closer to him, feeling like an idiot. Damon must have been stupid, or else he really wanted to believe that I was being serious.

"You picked Mazur because-"

"I didn't think it would be a good idea to have somebody defend me that I wanted to get to know explicitly." I kept my voice low, hoping that nobody in the neighboring offices could hear me making an ass of myself. Thankfully, it was late, and so the building had been pretty calm.

"You wanted to get to know me?" He repeated.

"Explicitly." I nodded. I don't know how this must have seemed from his point of view: I would have thought he'd be smart enough to realize something was up. Damon was pushing forty, and I was just eighteen. Not to mention, I was dating his nephew.

"This is sudden." He observed, looking me over in a swift glance.

"Well, I didn't know you until my hearing." I smiled. "Would you like to go on a walk?" Damon paused, hesitation all over his face. He had an unsavory reputation, apparently, and was probably wondering whether he was willing to risk rumors that he was shacking up with the queen's murderer. "It's late. There aren't very many people out…" I let that thought hang, cause I sure as hell wasn't about to finish it. Whatever Damon completed it with must have been good, though, because he nodded.

"Ok." Damon grabbed his jacket, as if he would need it in the dead of summer, and flicked the light off before we went out the front door. I cast my eyes into the shadows where Christian and Mia had planned on waiting, and prayed to God that Christian would be quick about his retrieval. I sure as hell wasn't going to kiss Damon, or let him take my blood, but as long as he thought I wanted him to, it would be uncomfortable trying to postpone it. Just flirting with him felt dirty enough. The only thing that was keeping me grounded was the knowledge that this would help Lissa. That, and the fact that Mia was watching us from behind a tree, so I wouldn't have to be alone with him.

"So, do you think I killed the queen?" I asked conversationally. I had him out of the building now; I didn't need to result to such drastic coercion anymore. Just keep him out here.

"The evidence seems to suggest that you did." He said seriously. I looked at him quietly, trying to look innocent. Well, I was innocent…of the queen's murder at least.

"And yet here you are, taking a walk with me."

"You're a persuasive woman." I tried not to wrinkle my nose in disgust at that. I didn't object to being treated as responsible, but as far as Damon should have been concerned, I was still practically a kid.

"So I've been told." I said, because it was what came into my head. When the words left my mouth I made a mental note to smack myself later. That made me sound like a raging slut. Damon seemed to appreciate the comment however, and he smiled.

"You really aren't supposed to be away from Princess Dragomir. You're only out of prison so you can guard her."

"Well, she was sick. And I was lonely."

"You didn't have any companions your age?" He asked. I blinked, taken slightly by surprise. Companions was an odd way to phrase it.

"I have friends my age." I insisted. "But men are like wine…they get better with age." My pathetic one-liner made him smile. I decided that I would have to try and get really drunk so that I could pretend I'd never said that. Hell, I wouldn't mind forgetting this whole experience.

We were by the little fountain in the courtyard, and I stopped walking and went to sit on the edge of it. Damon followed me, but he didn't sit, which made me feel uncomfortable. I looked over his shoulder and saw a flash of motion that made me feel a little more relaxed: Mia.

"How do you know that? Have you made a comparison?" I frowned, thinking of Dimitri and Adrian. Dimitri was four years older than Adrian. If that could account for anything, then yeah. But I wasn't about to explain that to Damon Tarus.

"I have my reasons."

Damon smiled secretively. "How about we figure it out for sure?" He put a hand to my cheek, steering my head in his direction. The gesture wasn't sweet, like when Adrian or Dimitri did it. Panic rose within me, and I fought to keep it off my face. _Hurry up, Christian. _Damon jerked me out of my seat. His lips loomed in front of my face, and I stared at him, revolted. We were too close; so close, that I was going cross-eyed.

I tried to think of something to do to stall. I looked around for Mia, but couldn't see her anywhere. I was so distracted with looking for Mia that I wasn't paying full attention to Damon. He moved quickly, covering my lips with his, the backs of my legs pressing into the cement of the fountain. I barely had time to register what was happening, until his mouth moved to my neck. I moved to push him away. I fought strigoi off, so it wouldn't be too hard to take a middle-aged moroi. But I didn't even have time to beat Damon up myself, because all of a sudden someone came barreling for us, catching Damon in the side and knocking him off balance.

I looked up, dazed, and saw Damon watching Dimitri in surprise. "What the hell-" But Dimitri didn't give him a chance to finish. He punched him right in the stomach, and Damon crumpled to the ground in a ball, looking like a spider. I was still too surprised to register all of what had happened.

Dimitri grabbed Damon by the collar and dragged him up. "Don't ever even _think_ about doing that again." He growled. His voice scared even me. The fury in it made his Russian accent all the more pronounced, and he sounded like some kind of rogue. Dimitri grabbed my hand and pulled me away, practically dragging me across the campus. I didn't think of Christian or Mia anymore, because I was actually kind of scared of Dimitri right then. He finally let go of me once we were back on the residential side of the campus. He turned to look at me, and it was clear that Dimitri was still furious.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He demanded. 

**A/N: Ok, what do you think? I was hesitant about this chapter, but my little Combustion told me to go ahead with it. I hope you guys liked it as much as she did. =) Thanks for your reviews, my little loves. Let me know what you think. Yes, Dimitri is back, if only for a little while. I hope you don't think it's too out of character, I considered that but decided Rose would do it because she's reckless, right? Tell me your thought and criticisms, and lend me your love. =]**


	16. Chapter 16

I looked at Dimitri in surprise, taken aback by his anger. I didn't even think about how it was odd that he'd had such perfect timing, or worry about whether Christian had gotten the files. I didn't even think about what Damon had just done. I only had thoughts of Dimitri.

"I was doing something important…" I protested. No, kissing Tarus hadn't been important. The look on Dimitri's face made me want to shoot myself in the foot. "I was distracting him."

"You were doing a damn good job of it!" Dimitri snarled. This fury was something that I had never seen in him before. I had seen him angry, but nothing could measure up to this. I remembered how angry he'd been the night he burst in on me and Jesse Zeklos in an abandoned room at St. Vladimir's. He'd more or less made me feel like a whore that night, telling me he'd heard stories about me. And he'd said I was feeding the negative perception of dhampirs. As furious as he'd been at Jesse, it was his disappointment in me that was the most upsetting. But I wouldn't feel like that this time.

"Get over yourself!" I yelled at him, surprising even myself. Dimitri looked at me angrily. "I told you just to stay out of my life!"

"I can't just let you go off and put yourself in dangerous situations like that."

"A dangerous situation?" I scoffed. "Were there some strigoi lurking around that I didn't know about, because there was no danger in talking to Tarus."

"No, not in talking to him. But it looked like a little more than talking!"

"You are unbelievable." I muttered darkly. "Why do you care what I do?"

"Because I care about you! I can't stand to see you hitting self-destruct, Roza! It's not you."

"You made me this way!" I yelled, and it was partially true. He didn't like me being flippant or reckless? Well, if it weren't for him denying me his love, I would have no reason to result to such rash actions. True, I'd always been one to jump the gun, but it had all been escalating since the night the school had been attacked, since the night he'd been turned. I was beginning to feel like a toy top that you start spinning; It goes so fast for so long and picks up momentum and then… it just stops.

Dimitri looked like he was in some kind of intense physical pain, but I couldn't back down. I laughed at his expression, hoping that would keep me from softening up to him. I was like butter under his gaze most days. But I wasn't going to give into him.

"Look at me, Dimitri." I said softly, taking a step closer to him. I had to work to stay strong, to keep myself level-headed and calm. "You just admitted that you care about me."

"I do." Dimitri said reluctantly.

"Then please, just tell me what the problem is?" I was trying not to plead with him; I didn't want to lower myself to those standards.

"I can't do this again. The first time was hard enough…"

"This won't be a repeat of every other time." I said coolly, and I meant those words. I took his hand and looked at him. "We're going to talk, not yell. And we're going to be rational. I need this." Dimitri closed his eyes, gathering up his patience.

"Okay."

"Tell me now why things can't go back to the way they were?"

"We've been through this before-"

"Try again." I said firmly. He sighed by way of response.

"I am not the same person I was before the attack. I look the same, sure. I'm not a strigoi anymore. But what I went through…it left me with scars that I can't heal from." I knew he meant emotional scars, because he looked just as perfect as ever. "I killed my former instructor…somebody that I looked up to and respected. Innocent people, too, because of that insatiable hunger. Every night I found somebody new to kill. I know I wasn't myself, but being capable of feeling compassion again, I need to sort out who I am from who I was. I can't bring myself to feel anything these days except regret for the things I've done."

"And anger. When Damon kissed me, you were mad." Dimitri looked at me, and that rage seemed to come back into his eyes again.

"Yes." He agreed. "And anger."

"And lust. When you came to visit me this morning?"

"It wasn't lust." He defended. "It was…"

"Don't worry about it. I'm used to that. Remember Jesse Zeklos?"

"It wasn't that. I wouldn't do that to you."

"You're a red-blooded man. I don't blame you for being sexually attracted to me, after what we did the last time we were together." I was provoking him. Adding fuel to the fire, making Dimitri think I thought he was just that shallow.

"It's not lust, Rose!" He yelled frantically. I was glad to see that he still cared what I thought of him. "It's because I love you." I smiled. _Checkmate._

"You mean you loved me? Before. Now you just want to be with me. Old habits die hard."

"Listen to me, please." He sounded defeated, as well he should have. I had him pretty much cornered now.

"I've heard you. I've heard you tell me that you care about me, and I've heard you say that you love me, and I've heard you tell me that your love has faded. But that doesn't mean it's gone forever. What I need to know now is whether you love me still, even if it's just the tiniest part of your heart?"

Dimitri looked away from me, and I let him. Everything I needed to know hinged upon that moment; If he could tell me he didn't love me anymore, say those words outright and tell me to move on because we would never be together again, I think I could get on with my life. But until I heard him say for sure that there was no hope of a future with him, our encounters would only take us around in circles.

"I can't tell you that."

"It's not that hard to answer," I said, a little more abrasively then I had intended.

"I can't tell you that." He repeated. "I'm a mess. I'm not capable of telling you how I feel until I know how I feel."

"So then you're serious? You don't love me anymore?"

"I do. But I can't love you anymore. At least not yet."

"Are you trying to tell me you don't want me anymore? But you're too scared to break my heart? Because you've done that already, so it can't hurt anymore than it already has."

"That's not it at all."

"I need an answer."

"I don't know."

"I do. I think you love me, but you're scared. You're afraid to let yourself love me because it was always so hard before. You secretly don't think that things could work out for us, do you?"

"All I want is for you to be safe." Dimitri looked so pleading now that it was making my frustration diffuse.

"You're avoiding my question. But our love is bigger than us, and don't try to deny it. Do you think that maybe this is how love is supposed to be?"

Dimitri laughed. "Like what? We aren't your run-of-the-mill couple."

"Maybe that's what makes it all worthwhile. Maybe it's not worth it unless you do crazy things and have great stories to tell from it." I was beginning to feel like some kind of sap, but I couldn't stop myself. I needed to make him understand. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."

"Crazy things like robbing a bank together, maybe. Not risking your life for me."

"Wouldn't you have done the same?" I'd never gotten that answer when I asked. Dimitri looked at me like I was crazy.

"I would do anything- I will do anything- that will keep you safe."

"And what about what makes me happy?" Dimitri frowned, undoubtedly wondering what kind of trick I had up my sleeve. Wrinkles formed in between his eyes, furrowing his perfect face.

"If it's in your best interest."

"Then do me a favor?"

He hesitated only briefly. "Anything."

"Kiss me."

My request took Dimitri by surprise, but he should have been expecting that. If he didn't know how he felt, if he couldn't tell me, I would figure it out for myself. I could tell from his kiss, if it was something more than hormone-driven lust, if he still felt the way he had, back in the cabin that glorious night, when we'd promised we wouldn't let anything happen to each other. I think Dimitri would have denied me, had it not been for his own curiosity. I had kissed him earlier with animal passion; Though I loved him, it had been more a product of my rage and frustration then a show of my love for him.

He stepped closer to me, and his strong arms wrapped around me. It was such a natural situation that I let my head slide onto his chest. He was tall enough that I could rest there comfortably. His heart beat a steady, wonderful rhythm through his simple cotton shirt, and I felt myself drowning. I almost didn't want him to kiss me…if he did, I don't know if I could have handled it if he didn't love me anymore. Just a few short moments ago I had been sure that if he was truly done with me that I could pick up my life with Adrian right where we'd left off. But now, feeling him next to me, I didn't know if the rejection would kill me.

Dimitri leaned down to kiss me, and I looked up at him, feeling a little terrified. But when our lips found each other, all hesitation vanished and instinct managed the rest. I didn't push for a deeper kiss, and he didn't try to pull back. We were simply two halves together in that moment, perfectly in harmony, everything in the universe screaming that this was it, that we had finally gotten it right.

And then a terrible feeling came over me, and I worried whether I had gotten it all wrong. But everything about Dimitri was right. Everything about being with him was perfect. And yet, there was something wrong. I pulled back, and saw Dimitri's face shift between pleasure and confusion and worry. I clutched his arm as a familiar sensation washed over me. But this was different than what I was used to; I felt faint, and feverish. My fingernails practically dug into Dimitri's arm as I felt my knees give way beneath me. I shivered, trying to find my voice.

"There's strigoi."

**A/N: Aw, Rose fainted from Dimitri's kiss. Or not. Lol. 100 reviews? One hundred? Really? Sorry, I'm having a hard time containing myself. You guys are the most appreciative people, and I feel like each and every one of you guys should be my new best friend forever :) Ok, I'm not really that weird. I miss Adrian, hbu? Let me know what you think, because I love to hear it. =D**

**XOXBelleCelineXOX**


	17. Chapter 17

Dimitri moved on instinct; his hand went to reach for his stake. I don't know where he'd managed to get a hold of one within the court's grounds, considering that he'd not had one when he'd been returned to a dhampir. My instincts matched his, and I went to reach for my own stake, which I'd always carried on me. It didn't occur to me that my own stake had been confiscated, used as evidence in pursuit of the queen's murderer. I cursed when I realized it was absent; In all this stuff with a remaining Dragomir and my suspicion in a high-profile murder, I'd not thought to grab another stake. Honestly, why would I? There was no need for a stake within the protective wards of the court.

"What the hell-" I looked around wildly. The sun was just about fully in the sky. There was no way that there could be a strigoi around here. The sun would be too much for a strigoi to handle; Not to mention, there was no way a strigoi could have gotten inside the wards.

"I don't see anything." Dimitri scanned the perimeter, his keen eyes looking over the grounds with an acute awareness. I looked out as far as I could, pushing myself off the ground to get a better look. Dimitri wrapped an arm around me and moved his body slightly to cover me in a defensive position.

"I can feel them."

Dimitri didn't turn to look at me, but he seemed to assess that claim. He looked around still, scanning the area. The grounds were flat except for the buildings, and the light of day chased away any shadows that could have concealed a strigoi. "Let's get indoors." He suggested, taking hold of my hand. I resisted.

"Christian…" I remembered now what I had been doing before Dimitri came bursting in on me. I needed to make sure Christian and Mia had gotten safely back to their own rooms.

"We'll go check to see if they're still by the office." He said, looking torn. I knew he didn't want to keep me out here if there were strigoi around, but we had to check on the other two first. They come first. They were my friends; This had been my plan. If they were endangered because of me…

I began to sprint back across the campus to where we'd come from only shortly before. Dimitri caught up with me easily. By the time we got to the building where Damon's office was, that strigoi-induced nausea had doubled. I felt paranoid now; there was definitely a strigoi close by. I looked around wildly, but there was no one around. "They're not here." Dimitri said. I shook my head, unsure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"There's a strigoi here." I said, looking around. I scrutinized the building. It would have to be inside…

I moved as if I was compelled toward the building, barely aware of what I was doing. I didn't consider that I didn't have my stake…something was wrong. Dimitri moved quickly to cover me, and I flung the door open, stepping into the massive lobby. It was empty in the room, the tile casting my footsteps into echoes. I looked around, on my guard, and my eyes fell on a gruesome sight. My walls fell down as I ran to Mia and fell to my knees at her side. The two puncture marks in her neck were the tell tale sign of what had happened. This wasn't an affectionate bite, seeing as blood covered her pale neck. I looked up into her face, so still and palid. Her eyes stared blankly at the ceiling.

I groped desperately for her wrist, pressing my fingers there to find that pulse. I waited for her to twitch under my touch, but she didn't move. Dimitri was at my side. He pulled me up swiftly and moved me to the side, blocking my view of Mia. "She's gone." He said firmly. I shook my head. Dimitri didn't know what he was talking about.

"Mia! Mia, wake up!" I hadn't seen her die; I couldn't be sure. "Mia!"

"Rose," Dimitri's voice was soft, gentle. In my grief I didn't notice that strigoi sensation growing stronger. I bristled as I felt, rather than heard, a movement to my right. Dimitri jumped to attention, spreading his arms length-wise to keep me behind him. We turned as one to face the strigoi in front of us.

"Damon…" I whispered. I glanced at Mia's body on the ground, and then I made the connection. Damon had turned of his own accord; He killed Mia so he could become a strigoi. Damon smiled quickly and made his move.

"You bastard," Dimitri growled, on the defensive. He pushed me back towards the door, and I stumbled into the wall. Dimitri struck out with the stake, but Damon was fast now. He slid out of his reach and barreled under Dimitri's arm, making a lunge for me. I came to my senses and dodged him. Dimitri moved swiftly, lunging at Damon from behind. But Damon noticed Dimitri's attack and he moved quickly out of the way. I threw myself towards Damon wildly, hoping to distract him. His arms wrapped around me, pulling my head up so that my neck was exposed. My body shielded him from any impact, so Dimitri couldn't do too much. He pulled my neck up so far that I thought he intended to snap it, but he didn't. Instead, Damon spun me around and moved his fangs to my neck.

He gave Dimitri his opening, and Dimitri took it. He lunged at Damon and plunged the stake into his chest in the exact spot, with such ease that he made me almost feel like a beginner. Damon's eyes glazed over, and he fell to the ground. Dimitri stepped on the stake to ensure that he got the depth right, and then bent down to retrieve it. He pulled it swiftly from Damon's chest and pocketed it. I looked at Damon in disgust, wishing I'd been the one to kill him. And as I watched, he burst into flames before my eyes.

I looked up, startled, and saw Tasha standing nearby. She let the fire engulf Damon's body, until he turned to a pile of ash before our eyes. My breathing was heavy, the adrenaline coursing through my veins. "Where's Christian?" I asked her.

"He was here?" Tasha sounded frantic now, and I cursed to myself. Christian…

"Where was he?"

"He was in Tarus' office." I said, and before I let her say anything by way of response I ran to where Damon's office had been. I threw the door open, letting it fall back, nearly slamming Tasha square in the face. "Christian?" I yelled, glancing around the room. He wasn't there. I hurried out of the room and down the hall, throwing doors open like a mad woman. "Christian!"

I found him by following the smell of smoke. He was in a room that had been more or less torched. He stood looking at it resolutely, and I noticed the body on the floor. I couldn't identify the person immediately. I placed a gentle hand on Christian's shoulder and he turned around quickly, looking ready to fight me off. When he saw me, his defenses dropped and he looked at the body on the ground. "Mia's dead." He announced dryly.

I nodded. "I saw her. Damon…"

"He killed her so he could turn. I'd just gotten the files. I came out of the office, and found her…"

"Who is that?" I asked, regarding the body on the ground. Christian shook his head.

"I don't know. Tarus turned him, whoever it was."

"He turned him?" It was uncommon for strigoi to create others. They often killed for hunger, for vengeance, or for their own enjoyment. But strigoi didn't often create others.

"He tried to turn me too." Christian said, turning to look at me. I noticed the marks on his neck, standing out stark against his pale skin. "Of course, I burned him. And then you came in and distracted him. He wanted to turn you, Rose." I was vaguely aware of Dimitri and Tasha behind us.

"Yeah, he tried to."

"You killed the asshole, I hope?" Christian turned to look at me square in the eye. I shook my head.

"Dimitri did." Christian nodded. He handed me a folder that I hadn't realized he was holding onto. Part of it was singed, and it was soot-blackened, but we had what we had come here for. Christian walked by me and past Tasha and Dimitri, back out into the lobby. I turned to face Dimitri, and saw Tasha hurry off after Christian.

"This is my fault." I whispered. Dimitri shook his head.

"Nobody could have guessed Tarus would turn Strigoi."

"But if I hadn't talked them into breaking into his office this never would have happened. Mia…she would be alive."

"You don't know that, Roza." He moved in closer to me, his hands on my shoulders. His dark eyes were boring into me, begging me to see the truth in them. But I couldn't. "Fate has a way of working out. If that was meant to happen, nothing you did would have changed it." He pulled me into a hug, trying to lend me some of his strength. I shook him off, pacing the hall.

"My friend is dead! You don't think that if I hadn't asked her to help steal from him that she would be alive? If it weren't for me, she would have been nowhere near him!"

"Or not. And if it hadn't been her, it would have been someone else. It could have been Christian."

"Mia was good. She was a damn good moroi. She knew how to use her powers and she was good at offensive fighting."

"The good die young too. We all leave the Earth eventually. It was her time."

"Shut up!" I thundered. "You did this. If you hadn't stopped Damon-"

"He would have killed you, and then Mia."

"If he'd killed me he never would have gotten to Mia. He wanted me, but you got in the way! If you'd left me alone this never would have happened!" If I couldn't blame myself, I would blame him. I was too distraught to realize just how irrational I sounded. Dimitri looked hurt, but he could tell that I didn't mean it.

"Nobody could have prevented that. Nothing could bring her back."

"You're wrong!" I yelled, tears beginning to form in my eyes. The heat spilled down my cheek and I choked on my words. "Adrian could bring her back!" That was stretching it; Adrian's power of healing was nowhere near Lissa's. I don't think Adrian could bring somebody back, but I felt the need to throw Adrian in Dimitri's face.

"Roza…" He wiped away my tears, and I jerked out of his way again angrily.

"Don't touch me!" I shrieked. "You did this! You killed her! I hate you for this! I hate you!"

Dimitri was watching me, worried. "You don't mean that."

"Yes I do. I hate you. Just stay out of my life!" I turned away from him and hurried out the hall, unable to look back.

**A/N: I don't know what to say. RIP Mia. I actually liked her :( But I would hate myself forever if it had been Christian or something, and it needed to happen anyways. Well, I hope you guys enjoyed a little action. There couldn't be too much yet, cause there's so much more to come. And I'm sorry about Rose and Dimitri, but she's being an idiot because she doesn't know how to deal with her grief. The obvious answer? Blame Dimitri. Lol. Poor kid. Okay, let me know your thoughts ;) I lovelovelove you guys!**


	18. Chapter 18

I locked myself in Lissa's room and threw the folder on the floor. I couldn't bring myself to look at it. I wanted nothing to do with it at the moment. My mind was spinning, my tears falling onto the ground. I felt so many things all in that one moment that I thought I might explode. I was an idiot for blaming Dimitri, I knew. And I was in shock because of Mia. And I was confused, probably more than anything else. Why had Damon turned? Had it been an impulse decision? Had he tried just to get a fix and then lost his control? Or had he planned it out, intending to kill somebody so he could become a strigoi? The latter seemed the least likely, because he chose to set those motions in action when the sun was out.

And then there was Christian. Damon had tried to turn him. It was beyond me. I don't know why he would have wanted to turn Christian, or whoever the other person was that Christian had set on fire. Strigoi didn't seek company; their only reason for making more strigoi was to benefit themselves.

I couldn't bring myself to accept that this would have happened no matter what. If Dimitri hadn't stopped Damon…If I hadn't suggested the entire scheme…If I had listened to Christian when he said this was a bad idea…If I hadn't asked Mia for her help…If I had gotten there sooner…If Tasha had gotten there sooner…

There were so many things that I could blame this on. Myself, Dimitri, Tasha, Damon… I hated feeling so many things at once, and so I let my mind go blank and I focused on Lissa. My thoughts pulled me into her head.

They were in an alley somewhere, and that knowledge wasn't very comforting. Lissa walked with purpose, moving quickly. Adrian looked like he was on a mission. I didn't know whether the others were with them, perhaps following behind them, because Lissa's thoughts were flooding into me. She felt a little nervous, but it wasn't because of what she was about to do. She felt anxious and jumpy, and though she couldn't explain it, she was worried about myself and Christian. I wished I could talk to her and tell her what had happened. I wanted to let her know that we were okay. I should tell her about Mia.

But I was distracted from my own thoughts as Adrian reached the end of the alley and knocked on the brick wall. I feared momentarily for his sanity, wondering whether they had been playing around with spirit. And then I noticed that there was a door in the brick wall there, carefully cut into the masonry. I watched through Lissa's eyes as the door opened and a figure appeared in the cut out. A tall man stood in the door, his head shaved bald and his eyes murderous. I felt Lissa's hope that she hadn't disturbed him in the middle of anything important. There was something in the concern that was more than just civil generosity, and I wanted to probe it, but I didn't have time because the man opened his mouth to speak.

"Ibrahim." I hadn't known Abe was with them, and though Lissa did not turn to confirm my father's presence, I was pretty sure that he was there, judging by the way the tall man was looking over Lissa's shoulder. The man, who reminded me of some guy I'd seen on a commercial for a cleaning brand called Mr. Clean, began to speak in Russian. He spoke rapidly.

There was some retaliation from somebody behind Lissa, presumably Abe. The Mr. Clean-guy moved aside and ushered them in. Lissa went first, and the others followed. Lissa knew her way through the building; she knew just what hall to go down and she went without any hesitation. She had been here before, I realized.

Lissa stopped when she entered into a large, dark room. There was smoke everywhere, and she could hardly see through it. She stepped to the side and the others filed into the room: Adrian, Eddie, Abe, my mother, and four people I didn't know. I presumed these were Abe's guardians, as they were all distinctly Dhampir. The bald Russian man entered the room and shut the door behind them, which made Lissa feel slightly uncomfortable. She looked at Adrian, and his smile provided her with the encouragement she needed. Abe took control of the situation, stepping forward in front of Lissa. Through the smoke I noticed an ugly green arm chair sitting by the wall. It was ugly, Lissa noted. I seconded that notion. It was the pea-soup, vomit color that should have died when it was born in the seventies.

My attention quickly faded from the chair, however, when I noticed the person sitting in it. There was a little man in the chair, complete with white hair and deep-set wrinkles. I looked at him closely, wondering who he was. I felt Lissa's heart filling with compassion, but I couldn't empathize with him; he reminded me too much of the way Victor Dashkov was beginning to look. And then, I realized with a start, that there was a reason this little old man reminded me of Victor Dashkov. Lissa confirmed my thought, though she didn't know I was in her head. It was Trenton Dashkov.

I had met Trenton briefly, years before. He had been on the brink of death then. Now…five years later, he was still alive. I felt surprised, and also a little nervous. I half-expected that Victor would come waltzing into the room. But though Lissa's thoughts concerning Victor were anything but optimistic, she was not scared of Trenton. Trenton smiled at her fondly.

"Princess…" His voice was little more than a whisper. I had to strain to hear what he was saying. He looked so happy to see her; I wondered if he knew about what his son had done to Lissa.

"Prince Dashkov." Lissa smiled warmly, and her thoughts were genuinely pleasant. Trenton was the oldest in the Dashkov line. In fact, he was much older than Tatiana had been, and according to rumor, he would have been King if he hadn't been so ill when the last King died. As it was, he'd been ill and so it had seemed a better call to name Tatiana as Queen, seeing as she would have a longer life. I tried not to think about the irony in that.

"It's good to see you again. I'd feared when you left that you mightn't return."

I felt Adrian moving next to Lissa and realized what was going on. Adrian hadn't wanted to return. I wondered when they'd met him the first time.

"After what we learned last night, it was hard not to." Abe moved forward, commanding Trenton's attention.

Trenton allowed him a small smile. "You're interested in my knowledge on the matter then?" I wondered briefly what matter he was referring to. The answer came from Adrian.

"You're one of the few people who claims to know anything about Spirit," He said, eyeing Trenton distrustfully.

"I have seen things others haven't. Surely that has led to a greater understanding then most." Adrian made some kind of contemptuous noise. If I had been there, I would have kicked him. However, Lissa only gave him a quick glance.

"What you said about knowing others," She began. "Is what I found most interesting."

"I don't suppose you can give us details." Adrian was doubtful, and I wondered why he had such a strong distaste for this man.

"I'm sure I could give you all the details I could recall." Trenton smiled again, but there was a look in his eyes that seemed hard. "Won't you guys take a seat?" He gestured, and I noticed there was a chair across from him. The smoke was beginning to clear away now, but I could still only see the one armchair. I expected Abe to claim it, but he sat down on the ground instead. Lissa moved to sit in the empty chair, and Adrian half-sat on the chair's arm. Lissa looked to the guardians; Eddie, my mother, and Abe's four guardians remained standing.

"How do you know so much about spirit?" Lissa inquired.

"I've seen it take hold in both my wife and my own son. I worked many years to make my wife understand what was going on with her."

"Your wife?" Abe repeated, unenthusiastically. Trenton nodded at him curtly. "Helen Tarus?"

"Yes, that is correct."

"But Helen wasn't Robert's mother?"

"No. Robert is the son of a friend of mine."

"Eileen Rinaldi, correct?"

Trenton looked at Abe with a measure of great distaste. "Yes." Abe quieted, though he wore a very smug look on his face. I felt like I'd been stabbed upon hearing the name Rinaldi. I thought of Mia, but I knew Eileen certainly hadn't been her mother. I felt rapt with excitement at the names that were being thrown around.

"Eileen was a spirit user?" Lissa guessed. To both of our surprise, Trenton shook his head.

"Eileen specialized in air."

"But Robert can use Spirit."

"It's not a hereditary thing. Spirit chooses you. Nobody has a say in what element they want, and spirit users are just the same."

"So it's random?" I felt Lissa's disappointment flood through the bond. But she retained some hope that grew with Trenton's next words.

"Nothing in life is random." His voice was hard, not with anger, but perhaps with some sort of anguish. "Spirit tends to invest itself in people who are strong of mind. Since it wears you down, it often starts with the strongest of mind."

Lissa looked at Adrian. "I think I got it by mistake then," He laughed.

"There are no mistakes in fate."

"We're talking about fate now?" Abe commented, a dry remark.

"How does fate play into spirit?" Lissa asked. Trenton looked at her with a smile, as though she were the thing in the world of which he was most proud.

"That depends on your perspective of fate. It has always been my belief that fate is supreme. What will be will be, and no manner of human intervention can alter that."

"And if that's true…"

"If that's true, then Spirit knows of the way of fate. It has knowledge of what fate intends, and it moves accordingly. Spirit harvests itself in people who can best make a change in the world and lead to circumstances different then those that fate has divined."

Both Lissa and Adrian paused to digest that information. Then Lissa spoke, "So if I brought a person back from the dead?" Trenton looked grim.

"Then fate intended them dead. Spirit had other plans."

Adrian exchanged a look with Lissa. "So we exist for others?"

"We all exist for others." Trenton snapped. "And we all exist for ourselves. Our point on this Earth is to learn. If you can save somebody, it is for the greater benefit of the world, and for yourself. In helping another, you create a reaction that is bigger than yourself. If you can save somebody, it is for the purpose of a change."

Lissa's thoughts turned to me. She had saved me. What had I done to change the world? I thought for a minute, and no answer came. Fortunately, Lissa saved me from being too hard on myself. I had found out about how to save a strigoi from being undead. If I had been there, I might have argued with her over that, as I hadn't discovered that myself. Robert had been the one to ascertain that knowledge.

"Would you give us the names of the others like us?" Lissa asked. I wondered why she wanted to know about other spirit users. Lissa's thoughts provided no answer to my question as one of Trenton's guards went off in search of something. I probed her mind, feeling her excitement over getting ahold of the names of the spirit users. The guard came back with a pen and paper, and Trenton made a list of the spirit users he knew of, even adding to it the last place he'd known them to be.

Lissa thanked Trenton for his time and his kindness, and he wished her luck. "Do try to visit again soon." He told her just before they left. Lissa smiled, though she didn't make any promises. When they had left the building, Lissa noted that Adrian was being sort of quiet.

"Are you ok?" She asked him in concern.

"I'm still confused." He said, turning to look at her. "So spirit is like a response to fate?"

"If I understood him correct, then yes."

"And spirit users all have a purpose? Yours was to save Rose and Dimitri, Robert's was to save whoever he saved."

Lissa nodded. "I'm pretty sure that's how it works."

Adrian didn't look comforted by that. "If that's true, then what's my purpose?"

**A/N: yesterday was a holiday, so sorry. I couldn't find the time to finish writing chapter eighteen, so I had to get that done today. I hope all you Americans had a nice fourth of July. Well, I hope everyone did, but I hope that those who observe Independence Day found it enjoyable. I nearly died watching the fireworks. lol. read and review and tell me what you love/hate :) xox bELLEcELINE**


	19. Chapter 19

I wanted desperately to see Dimitri's family again, but I was so tired that I couldn't stand it. I kept wavering in and out of Lissa's head, missing full pieces of conversations. I decided to go back into myself and try to get some sleep.

Of course, once I wished for sleep, it didn't come so easily. So I lay in my bed, feeling transparent as I thought of Mia and Damon. My mind was working, but I felt pretty much numb to everything else. I lay so still that if somebody had walked in, they might have thought me dead. I didn't know I'd fallen asleep until I found myself sitting in the court's gardens. I looked up in surprise and saw Adrian smiling at me. But that smile changed quickly to a mask of concern as he took me in.

"What's wrong?" He asked frantically. I reached up to my cheek and wiped away the tears that had been there, trying to compose myself. I tried to think of how I was supposed to say this. I'd had time to think about it, but I hadn't figured out how I was going to break it to him gently. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine." I said. I was surprised to hear my own voice, because it sounded gravelly and hoarse.

"You're lying. What happened?" Adrian was looking at me in a different way than normal, and I realized he was looking at my aura. Then, his face fell. "Is it Belikov?"

"No." I insisted, hefting a deep breath. "It's Mia."

"Mia?" Adrian repeated. He had known her only briefly, so it probably came as a surprise to him that I was crying over her.

I nodded, because it was hard to find words. "She's dead."

Adrian froze, standing so still that he looked as though he were trying to become a statue. I looked down from his face and blinked away any stray tears that might have been in my eyes. I had to stay strong so I could tell Adrian. He would have to be the one to break the news to Lissa. "Dead?"

"She was killed by a strigoi." I said quietly, and then I realized the inaccuracy of the statement. Before I could correct myself, Adrian spoke again.

"What was she doing away from court?"

"She wasn't. She was in court. Somebody wanted to turn strigoi. They killed Mia with those intentions." Adrian looked disgusted. Wanting to turn strigoi was despicable enough. But killing somebody to become strigoi, as opposed to having another one turn you, was really low.

"Who?"

I swallowed, because I had been dreading telling him this part. It occurred to me that I could lie to him; he would be none-the-wiser until he got back to court. But Tarus was a royal, and he was dead. There would be a full investigation, and the truth would be known. Lying to Adrian wouldn't make things any easier in the long run. "Damon Tarus."

Adrian didn't move. He looked at me in disbelief. "What did you just say?"

"I'm sorry, Adrian. I don't know what happened. I don't know why he would do this. I felt the strigoi, and I ran to his office to find Mia and Christian. He killed Mia so he could turn, and then he tried to turn Christian." I didn't bother mentioning the other person Damon had turned. I didn't know who that person was, and honestly, this bit of information was bad enough.

"You're sure it was him?" This was Adrian's last-ditch attempt at saving face. He was confident in my abilities.

"I'm sorry. I know he was your uncle."

"Don't apologize." Adrian's voice was stony. I felt uncomfortable now. I wanted to comfort him, but I could think of nothing to offer. Tatiana had been his great aunt, from his father's side. Tarus had been his uncle, from his mother's side. Two of his family members were gone now, left from the Earth in one week's time. I worried briefly over his mental health. "I never much liked him. But I don't know why he would do something like this."

"I don't know either. I don't know if it was planned or impulsive."

Adrian thought about that a moment. "Damon was pretty sleazy, but he was good at what he did. He could defend even the most guilty of people. He was meticulous and strategic. Whatever he did that for, it was planned." I considered that point. "Does my mother know?"

I paused. "It only just happened. I don't think anybody knows yet." I had lost track of time, being in Lissa's head, and now in an Adrian Dream. It still felt new, fresh, like I'd just seen it happen.

Adrian sighed, scrubbing his hands over his face. "This is going to kill her."

"I think you're underestimating her." I said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"It's one thing after another, Rose." He said dryly. "Aunt Tatiana was murdered, and then you were being blamed. And then I ran away. And now this?" he shook his head sadly. "I wish I could tell her myself."

"I wish you could too." Who would tell her? Damon's guardian was the likely candidate. I paused a moment, realization striking a chord. Damon's guardian hadn't been present when I'd walked into his office. There had been no one to insist on chaperoning us. It was an unusual thing for a royal moroi to go anywhere without their guardian. I thought of the man that Christian had incinerated. Perhaps Damon had turned his guardian.

"Could you do me a favor, Rose?" I looked up into Adrian's eyes, distracted from my thoughts. I didn't really think on what I was saying.

"Anything." I promised him.

"Please tell my mother."I should have thought that one through. I woke up and dressed myself in the customary guardian black. If I was going to the Ivashkov's home, I should at least look like I'd been guarding Lissa.

I kept mentally kicking myself for saying I would do this. I liked Daniella well enough, but telling Adrian had been hard enough. Now I was supposed to tell her? I knocked on the door and had to force myself not to run away.

It took a few moments before I heard anything on the other side of the door. I was thinking of going back to sleep and telling Adrian I had knocked and knocked and been unable to rouse his parents. But I wasn't able to do that, as there was a scuffling noise and the door opened. I recognized Nathan's guardian, a tall young man.

"I'm here to see Mrs. Ivashkov." I announced in the strongest voice I could manage. The guardian appraised me, his eyes surveying my body. It was late at night now for us, but I didn't seem to have wakened the guardian. He looked at me, doubtful.

"What business do you have with Mrs. Ivashkov?"

"Guardian stuff." I wasn't about to tell Nathan's guardian.

"Well, you aren't her guardian."

"I know I'm not. I'm Princess Dragomir's guardian." The man looked impressed. He cocked his head around the door, as if looking for Lissa. "She's fallen ill and has requested I relay important information to Danie-" I broke my words off. "Mrs. Ivashkov." I corrected. This information seemed to appease the guardian. He moved aside and allowed me entrance into the house.

The guardian was sure to close the door and lock it behind me. I followed him into the parlor, where he gestured for me to take a seat. I wasn't sure I should sit on the grand white couch; It looked like it was more for show than anything. I went through my head what I was going to say, how I was going to tell her. I stayed standing until Daniella entered the room in a long silky robe that looked as though it had been brought over from China. Her hair was pulled into a loose knot behind her head, and she had that aloof look of sleep written on her face. When she saw me, her eyes shifted to worry.

Daniella sat on the couch, curling her feet up under her. She gestured for me to sit, and I did this time, feeling rigid, like there was a steel rod in place of my spine. Daniella looked toward the door, and I noticed her guardian and Nathan's standing there. Can we have a moment alone?" The guardians obliged her, and she turned to me, her voice quiet. "Is Adrian ok?"

"Yes, he's fine." I took a deep breath.

"I'm here about Damon." Daniella's eyebrows arched together in surprise, moving upward.

"Ok. What about him?"

"I have bad news." I was dreading this. Daniella's face contorted into a look of confusion. "Damon…"

"He's dead?" Her voice was so frail I felt guilty. I should not have agreed to this. I tried to avoid her eyes.

"I'm sorry." I mumbled.

Silence lay around us, it's oppressive hand threatening to smother us. "I don't believe you." Daniella said, shaking her head.

I'd been prepared for tears, but I'd never considered her denial. "I'm sorry." I repeated, for lack of anything better to say.

"Damon isn't dead. I've just seen seen him this morning. We have dinner plans for tomorrow."

"It happened only a little while ago." I assured her.

"What happened?"

I had also been dreading this part. What was worse than telling a family that one of their loved ones is dead? I guess saying that it was his own fault he was dead? That it was one hundred percent preventable? Saying he got what he deserved?

"Damon turned Strigoi."

Daniella's demeanor grew short and cold. "I don't know if this is your idea of a joke, Rose, but I assure you it's not funny."

"I'm not joking." I insisted. "He killed a friend of mine so he could turn. Mia Rinaldi."

"Rinaldi?" Daniella knew the name, and she knew it well.

"Damon tried to create followers. He turned his guardian. He tried to turn Christian Ozera and me."

"You killed him?" She whispered.

"No. Guardian Belikov did." I felt a little guilty at that admission, but I wasn't going to take Dimitri's credit.

"Can I see him? I need to know for sure."

I shook my head sadly. "Tasha Ozera had to burn him. She was trying to help…" I left my word to trail off. Daniella looked at me in disbelief. I saw her eyes filling up and wished there was some way I could get the hell out of there. "Adrain wanted me to tell you myself. He thought I could tell you more gently." Obviously that wasn't true.

"You've talked to Adrian?" She asked, catching me off guard.

"Only briefly." I defended.

"So he's well?"

"Yeah. He's good."

Daniella fell silent again. "Thank you for being the one to tell me." Her voice was hollow. She stood up, and I followed suit.

"I'm sorry I had to tell you." I said sincerely. I followed Daniella to the door, glad to be leaving. I didn't like being the bearer of bad news.

I entered out into the light of day, and turned to go. "Rose…" She stopped me as I was heading down the sidewalk. I turned to look at her, hoping she wasn't going to ask me anything more about Adrian. "Nevermind." She forced a smile,which I returned tentatively. I wondered briefly what she'd planned to say. But when Daniella closed the door behind me, I let it drop. 

**a/n: pretty much a mellow chapter for you. it had to be done though, and it will all balance out again cause there is plenty of adventure in the chapters to come :) thank you for all your hard work reading and reviewing. i love you all =]**


	20. Chapter 20

I threw myself on Lissa's bed on my stomach, my head hanging over the side of the mattress. I was already beginning to hate this routine. Coming into Lissa's room, falling atop her sheets, and waiting for sleep, which almost never came. I was going to have to start exercising again. When I had practiced with Dimitri, I'd be so tired at the end of the day that sleep would come the moment I willed it. If I wasn't so pissed at Dimitri, I would have asked him if he wanted to train again. I had definitely gotten better since the last time I'd trained with him, and I wanted the chance to show him that. My trip to Russia had demanded I become stronger, in both mind and body.

I stared at the floorboards, wishing my brain came with an on-off switch. It would be so much easier just to turn off all your emotions when things begin to add up. I closed my eyes to see if maybe I would fall asleep, but I had no such luck. I opened my eyes, and they fell upon the file on the floor. That file contained the information that we had retrieved from Damon's office. I leaned down and picked it up, hoping that the information in it was pertinent. This was what Mia had died for.

The pages in the file were all neatly typed on thick paper. I looked through them without really paying too much attention to detail. I was scared of the possibility of disappointment. What if we had done all that, if Mia had died, and Christian had been bit, all for nothing? What if Damon's records were no more detailed than the alchemist's had been?

I found a bank statement and pulled it forward, looking immediately for the name on the account. "Damn." The name line was completely empty. Just my luck. There was a phone number listed, which was helpful, and under it was a mailing address, the next best thing I could imagine. In fact, it was almost better than knowing a name. I looked at my prize piece of information, reading the address:

92467 West Brook Lane, Detroit.

The bank was in Grosse Isle, but whoever owned the account lived in Detroit. I didn't know what kind of distance lay between those places, but I wondered why anybody would have a bank in a separate city. Detroit was a big city, with plenty of banks available. It was beyond me that somebody would do service with an independent bank. Who wanted to pay those ATM fees all the time?

I was happier now, feeling a little lighter now that I knew I had this. I could write to this person and tell them the predicament, how they needed to come forward and reveal themselves so that Lissa could have a vote. Well, and the Dragomir, too, whoever they were, deserved to be known. There was no shame to being an illegitimate child, in my opinion. Only in being a cheater who has an illegitimate child.

Which is why I began to think of how I was going to break this news to Lissa. So far the only person I had shared this information with was Christian. I'd have told Adrian too, if the opportunity had presented itself. He had been with me at the Witching Hour when the manager had alluded to the fact that Eric Dragomir had cheated on his wife. Adrian had even been interested enough to ask his parents. His father had agreed that Eric liked elite company, and the presence of females. Daniella had reprimanded them for dragging the name of a dead man through the mud.

But it was true. There was a Dragomir out there, and it was my job to find them. Lissa needed her vote. And even if it hadn't been for Lissa's vote, she still had a right to know her sibling. She had no family, after all. Her brother, her father, and her mother had all been taken away from her far too soon. We were like sisters, yes, but this was different. Finding the last Dragomir would be like Lissa getting a little part of her father back.

But I had to convince whoever this last Dragomir was that they needed to step forward into their birthright. They had gone thus far without making their lineage known, so asking them to admit it and confront it was surely not going to be an easy task. I needed to write a compelling letter, but I was never one for words.

I considered how I was going to manage this. It was too bad compulsion didn't work through a third party. I could write a substandard letter and have it compelled, and then I would barely have to do anything more. But even if it did work like that, I had nobody to compel it for me. I obviously couldn't let Lissa know what I was up to, and she wasn't there anyways. The only other person I've seen use compulsion, and weak at that, was Mia. And now…

My thoughts turned dark as I began to think of what had happened again. Part of me still hadn't fully accepted the fact that Mia was actually gone. I mean, we hadn't been the best of friends or anything, but we had gotten along well. I thought of her father and felt a profound sorrow for the man that I didn't know. He'd lost his wife a little over a year ago, and now his daughter was gone too. I hoped he had friends and other family members to ease his pain, to give him a reason to keep going.

I thought back to the way Mia had been before she lost her mother. She was cruel and vindictive. She picked fights with Lissa, which meant that she picked fights with me. She had snubbed anybody who wasn't royal, though she herself wasn't from a royal family. And then she had changed for the better. She had grown and matured, learning to fight and use her skills. She had left school in favor of the court so that she could spend time with her father and so that they could heal together. She had befriended many of the guardians here. And yet, she was gone. That quickly.

Damon had been attached to a reputation that had preceded him. He was regarded as underhanded and crooked, but he was a royal. And he was an attorney, somebody who worked under the law. Granted the law wasn't always entirely fair or just. The quorum was excellent proof of that. But Damon had, for reasons that I couldn't conceive, made the choice with his own free will to kill somebody so that he could turn and join the ranks of strigoi. I didn't know Damon's element, but I was willing to stake my life that he wasn't a spirit user, which would make him unable of hiding behind the excuse of insanity like my former teacher Mrs. Karp.

What really threw me was that he turned himself when the sun was out. Of course, it made sense to turn when there weren't any other moroi around to tip off the guardians. But in doing so, he had either planned on walking out into the sun, a feat which would have killed him if he'd been out there long enough, or planned to stay the night in his office. I thought of his guardian, the man who'd been lying on the floor.

In the moment, when I'd been preoccupied with worry for Christian and grief over Mia, I hadn't been too focused on the particular aspects of the situation. Now I could recall everything in perfect, vivid detail. The way the smoke-y smell had led me to find Christian; That had been the smell of the burning dhampir. The way that body had looked, sprawled out on the ground, the skin melted off of the bones. The way Mia had looked, her blond curls spreading around her, matted with blood. I shuddered, willing myself not to consider those details anymore.

I stood up from the bed and went foraging for a piece of writing paper and a pen. I needed to write to the last Dragomir. In the drawer of the stand next to Lissa's bed I found only a book. I thumbed through the pages real quick to see if it was something with blank pages that could be taken out, but it didn't appear to be. I put it back in the drawer without another thought and looked around. There was no desk in this room, only a vanity. I looked to see if there was anything there, but it was empty.

I straightened up in frustration and slammed the drawer of the vanity, causing the mirror to shake violently. I caught my reflection wavering in the mirror. As it steadied, I saw myself for the first time since I'd been accused of murdering the queen. I didn't look bad or anything, but something about my reflection seemed more…mature, I guess. I guess that shouldn't have surprised me, though. The past week had definitely taken it's toll on me. When this was all over, I was going to have to take Lissa on another outing. We would go to Vegas or something, since we hadn't had a chance to enjoy ourselves last time we were there.

There was a knock on the door, and I sighed in frustration. I wasn't really feeling like seeing anybody right now. But the knocking was persistent, so I went to the door and opened it, letting Christian come into the room. He seemed better than he had before, but I could still see that he was tired and defeated. He didn't look quite the way I was used to, and something about his gait led me to believe he wasn't feeling like his snarky old self. Still, I was glad that he didn't have that same hollow, haunted look in his eyes that he'd had earlier.

"Couldn't sleep?" I said with a little bit of a taunting air. I was half-serious though. I hadn't been able to sleep myself, so I didn't have a hard time believing Christian was unable to sleep either.

"Not really." He sat down on Lissa's bed. I thought he would say more, but that seemed to be all he had.

"I couldn't either." I confessed. Christian didn't seem phased by my revelation.

"How is Lissa?" He asked, looking at me hopefully. They had been apart for only a few months, both of them blinded by stubborness and jealousy. He'd only just gotten her back, and now she had left him here while she went off to play the hero. I knew he missed her, just like I did. And to make matters worse for him, he had no way of communicating with any of them.

"She's good." I said honestly. "They went to visit Trenton Dashkov earlier."

Christian looked amused. "Trenton Dashkov?" He asked doubtfully. I managed a small smile.

"Yeah. He has information about spirit that Lissa was interested in. He really likes her. He told her just about everything she wanted to know."

"I don't know how she does that." He said quietly. "Even without any compulsion, she can get what she wants."

"She's the best person I know. And I think people can see that about her." I shrugged off my honesty.

"How is information about spirit going to help you?" Christian asked, as though he genuinely thought I had the answer.

"I have no idea." I was so caught up in doing this stuff for Lissa, in finding her sibling so that she could enjoy her birthright, that I was not really focusing on clearing my name. Lissa had made it seem as though that was what she was setting out to do, with the help of my father and Adrian, and though I didn't see how the two were connected, I trusted her. Lissa was going to take care of me, and I was going to take care of her. I remembered what I'd been doing before Christian showed up. The bank statement still lay on the bed where I'd left it and Christian picked it up to examine it.

His blue eyes flew over the page, flickering at first with disappointment. As he reached the end of the statement, he looked pleased. "So we still don't know who the mistress is, or the Dragomir."

"But we know how to get ahold of them." I reasoned. That was golden information.

"And we know how to find them." Christian's eyes danced with excitement, and it was such an odd contrast to what I had seen when he came through the door that I couldn't keep back a laugh.

"Yeah, if only I wasn't grounded." My mood went dark once more.

"I'm not." I looked at him, feeling some animosity growing toward him.

"Yeah, cause you're not the one who killed the queen." My voice was acidic, but Christian didn't seem to be offended by it.

"Neither are you." He answered coolly.

"Everybody thinks I am."

"When have you ever cared what anybody thinks?"

I rolled my eyes. It was childish, probably the most immature thing I've done in the last week, but I really didn't want to hear this. "I don't give a damn. I'm just pissed that I have to stay here, when I could be out there helping Lissa."

"And you are really that scared of charges of contempt?" He was smirking now, and it was beginning to piss me off. I wondered what the hell his problem was.

"On top of murder charges!" I yelled. Christian's smirk only turned into a grin.

"That's a funny perspective." He remarked. "Considering, if they find you guilty of killing the queen, you'd be executed anyways. Are you worried about your reputation after you die?"

Though he was being a pain in the ass, he was dead on. If I was found guilty of murdering the queen, I would die anyways. There would be nothing further to worry about. And if they realized I was innocent, then the worst that they could do to me for charges of contempt were…what? Throw me in prison a week or two? Been there, done that. A slap on the wrist? They could maybe make me file papers for the rest of my life? It was a gamble, since I didn't know whether we could prove my innocence, even though I wanted to so desperately. But either way, contempt charges seemed like a small price to pay for getting Lissa the vote. That would stop the ridiculous age decree from passing. If I was going to die anyways, then I might as well do something good. One last good deed to hope for entrance into heaven. One last sacrifice for the greater good of my people.

"Ok." I said, trying hard not to admit that he had a very valid point. "We're going to Michigan."

**A/N: This may be the longest chapter thus far. I was feeling like a terrible person for going two days without updating you, considering the last chapter was, in my opinion, rather boring. I had the worst day working wednesday, so yesterday was my relax day. I saw Toy Story 3! ;) Ok, I hope this chapter was good. I didn't want to write it, cause it's boring compared to future events, and so I wanted to skip it. But it was necessary. Ok, no more rambling. Please let me know what you guys think, cause you make me so happy and you make me want to type til my fingers fall off. ok, not really. But I never want to stop! =D lol. i love you guys! XXOO belleceline**


	21. Chapter 21

Last time I had left court, we had used Lissa's money to fund the brunt of the trip. Adrian's credit cards had gotten us a room in the hotel. This time, Lissa wasn't around, which was just as well because I couldn't ask her to borrow money if I didn't tell her why I wanted it. Not to mention, if Lissa was here, she would try everything in her power to make sure that I didn't leave. But Lissa wasn't here, and neither was Adrian. I wasn't sure how I was going to pull it off. Christian offered to front the money, but that made me feel guilty. He was my friend and all, but I couldn't foresee taking money from him, when I wasn't entirely sure of his financial situation. He was a royal, yes, but he had mentioned that Damon Tarus had been siphoning money from his account while he had control of the Ozera's money.

I decided I would fund this myself. If I was going to be brought up on charges of contempt, I wasn't going to let anybody else feel responsible for my behavior. There were people within the court, I knew, who managed affairs that high society moroi would consider despicable. I was going to have to find a pawn broker and make a pitch. The only problem was, what did I have that was of any value?

I thought of all the stuff in my room. What did I have to my name? Clothes. Shoes. A book or two left over from the Academy. The furnishings of the room, which were technically not even mine. I had nothing. In desperate need of some inspiration, I looked around Lissa's room. I had no intentions of stealing from Lissa, but it didn't hurt to look for some sort of similarities between her stuff and mine. But Lissa's stuff and my own things were very similar. Lissa only had to offer the same things that I did: clothes, shoes, jewelry. I lit up upon thinking of jewelry, but then realized I really didn't have any.

All of the jewelry that Dimitri had stolen for me I had left in Russia, back in the outskirts of Novosibirsk in the grand place where Dimitri had held me captive. The only other thing I had was the nazar around my neck. I looked down at it, saw it gleam. The necklace could hardly be worth anything. The sentimental value of it was much greater than the monetary value. Still, it was all that I had to offer…

I closed my eyes, steeling the strength to do what I was about to. I wondered how my mother would feel if she knew what I was going to do. Abe had given her this, to protect her. She had given it to me. It had been in our hands for at least eighteen years, and I was going to pawn it for money to get to Detroit. I thought inexplicably of Dimitri, knowing he would be disappointed if he knew what I was up to.

I reached up to the back of my neck and felt for the clasp of my necklace. I fumbled with it for a moment, and then the chain gave way. As it fell to the ground I was reminded of the dream I'd had yesterday, of Dimitri as a strigoi biting my necklace and replacing it with…

My body froze as I came to a revelation. The necklace that Victor had left me was still in Lissa's room. I'd thrown it at the door yesterday after Dimitri left me feeling all strung-out. The necklace was ornate, and fabulous. Victor had certainly paid a small fortune for it. Of course, with a pawn broker I would be lucky to get a quarter of what the necklace was actually worth, but I didn't want the damn thing anyway.

I reached under the dresser, feeling around blindly until my hand closed over the cool metal. I brought it out and examined it, recalling how I had seen it at the mall. The memories of that day came back to me. I had been getting some real experience as a guardian at the mall with Lissa and Dimitri. Lissa had been the one to point the necklace out to me. But I hadn't been much interested. Rose's weren't really my thing. The price had been what deterred Lissa from pulling out her cards again. Yet, as we were leaving, Victor had doubled back and bought it.

I recalled the price tag with a fond smile. The necklace should definitely go a long way in covering the price of a flight to Detroit. I slipped the necklace into my pocket as I headed out the door. I flung the door open and hurried out into the hall, running right into somebody. I cursed, irritated, and looked up to see who it was. I cursed again. Dimitri.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded, rubbing my forehead. I had pretty much walked right under him; His chin caught the top of my head. And of course, it hadn't fazed him. I wondered briefly what it took to physically hurt him. But I really didn't want to know, unless of course, I was the one beating him up. I sure as hell was feeling like it.

"I was checking on you." His voice was low, like he hadn't wanted to admit that. I fixed him with the most apathetic look I could manage.

"I'm fine." I lied. Truth be told, I was feeling just about every emotion in the world. Happy to be doing something. Sad about Mia. Angry at Dimitri. In love with Dimitri. Anxious to get money. Worried about how Christian and I were going to get out of the court. Scared Dimitri would find out and stop me. I think there should be a limit on how many things a person can feel at once.

Dimitri didn't believe me. I knew him better than anybody else, and I could tell that, even though he kept his face impassive, he wanted to call me on my fallacy. As well as I knew him, he knew me. I hoped I was a good enough liar to keep my intentions from him. He would talk me down from doing something irrational, I was sure of it. "The guardians are in a frenzy."

"Hmm." I nodded. That was to be expected. Who would have believed that Damon would have turned?

"Tasha is taking care of the situation. She was worried about you."

"That's nice of her." I said dismissively. But his words sparked a question in my mind. "What was she doing there, anyways?"

"She had an appointment with Damon."

"Why was she meeting with Damon?" I asked, suspicious.

Dimitri recognized the distrust in my voice. "She is a grown woman. Her matters are her own business."

I looked at him closely, and I could see that there was something he wasn't telling me. I could ask him, but he wouldn't say. I would have to goad him into it. "Well, it just sounds suspicious. Damon turned strigoi, and Tasha had plans to meet him?"

"Don't go there, Rose." Dimitri warned. I felt a little stab of jealousy at that. He was defending her. Now, I really like Tasha. She is kind, and beautiful and clever. But where it concerns Dimitri, I have always felt a tiny bit of animosity toward her. I wish I could make it go away, but it's something you can't just bury and walk away from. I didn't believe Tasha would have any shady deals going on with Damon, of course. She was much too great a person for that. But if I wanted the information that I knew Dimitri had, and concealed, then I would have to make him say something. Of course, I didn't like the defensive tone of voice he was using, but that came with the territory.

"I didn't say anything." My tone was haughty, but I wasn't going to adjust it for him.

"I trust Tasha with my life. She wouldn't be involved in anything like that."

I smiled. "I never said she was. I just thought it was odd. Unless she has some kind of ongoing battle with the law, I don't see why she'd be meeting with Damon." I let my mouth form an O, as though I were just realizing something. "Were they intimate?"

Dimitri knew I was baiting him, and he was frustrated with me. "Rose…"

"It's ok, you don't have to say if she was. I certainly wouldn't want to be with somebody who turned stigoi."

Dimitri's face showed only the slightest sign of inflection. He had been strigoi, but he knew that was not what I meant. Damon had turned himself. "They weren't involved. Tasha was meeting with him to discuss you."

That caught me by surprise. I blinked in astonishment. "What?"

"She was helping him compose the time-line for the queen's murder."

"Damon wasn't my attorney." I argued. Dimitri nodded.

"Tasha asked him for his help. Like I said, she's worried about you." Now I felt like a horrible person. How could I feel any animosity for someone who was willing to go out of her way to try to prove I didn't commit a murder?

"She doesn't need to worry." I said quietly. Guilt washed through me, taking precedence over my emotions. I felt like I should apologize to her. But I hadn't said those things to her. I'd said bad things about her to Dimitri, and I sure as hell wasn't going to apologize to Dimitri.

"Try telling her that. She is beating herself up about this, Rose. She was near hysterics when I left her."

"It wasn't her fault." I murmured.

"She was late to her appointment. She thinks that if she was on time, this wouldn't have happened."

"It would have been her, instead of Mia." I said. It was funny, cause Dimitri had said the same thing of me. I prayed he wouldn't notice that.

"Either way, she was inconsolable."

"You should have stayed with her." It killed me to admit that, but I was fine. I was going to be OK. If Tasha was swimming in her own tears, I think she needed to have somebody around who could help make her feel a little better. Dimitri looked surprised that I had said that.

"Tasha wanted me to see you. I'm sure Christian will visit her."

"Well, as you can see, I am great." I squirmed under his gaze.

"Where are you going?" He inquired.

"I didn't know I had to report to you every time I left Lissa's room." My voice carried the abrasiveness of sandpaper. Dimitri did not seem phased by it.

"You don't have to. I just wondered."

"Well, not that it's any of your business, but I need to go grab a few things from my room."

"I'll walk you." He suggested. I scowled at him.

"I don't need a guardian. I'm not going to kill anybody."

"Of course not." He agreed, in all seriousness. His face was closed-off. I pursed my lips together, waiting for him to take his leave. But he only looked at me. "Be careful." A raise of the eyebrows and a widening of the eyes assured him that had been a ridiculous thing to say. I turned and walked off, leaving him with nothing else.

I knew that I would find a pawn shop just by walking around. I went to the area that housed the court's spa and began to explore. Since the sun was out, practically everyone was asleep, so I had no fear of being questioned about why I wasn't guarding Lissa. I walked down the flower-lined dirt path that led through the shops, and found one that looked promising. It was a book store, but the sign declared it was open. I don't know why any reputable book store would be open in the dead of night.

I entered the shop to a blast of cold air. A bell above the door announced my arrival. The room was dark, lit only by the light coming in from outside. I looked around, deciding this really wasn't a reputable book retailer. There were tables in place of bookshelves, with cardboard boxes on them filled with books. I had definitely come to the right place.

A little old man came into the light. He was a moroi, although he wasn't very tall. His back was hunched over, and he supported his weight on a big heavy cane. I smiled at him, because he honestly looked kind of sweet. He came toward me, returning my smile. "What can I do for you?"

"I don't know if I'm in the wrong spot." I said, reaching for my pocket. "I was hoping to liquidate an asset?"

The man's eyes flashed in recognition, and his smile widened. "Oh, you've certainly come to the right place. What have you got?"

I unfurled my fist, exposing to him the heavily decorated necklace in my hand. He stared at it for a moment, wordless, then looked at me. "Did you steal this?"

I laughed. "It was a gift."

"A gift? Such a nice gift…" He muttered, with a shake of his grey head. "May I?"

I dropped the pendant in his hands, glad to be rid of it. He moved to the side, holding it up to what little light the musty shop had to offer. "This is exquisite." He seemed to be talking to himself, so I simply smiled. He moved slowly towards a desk in the back, reaching into a drawer. He withdrew a little eyeglass and examined the pendant. "You're sure you want to part with this? It was a gift, after all."

"I don't want it. It came from an ex-boyfriend." I lied. The man looked up at me with a crooked grin. He laughed, and it was such a jolly sound, I couldn't help but feel guilty about that unnecessary lie.

"Well, it's no wonder then." He ran a finger over the diamonds. "What do you think you could get from this?"

His question took me by surprise. I hadn't really been prepared to tell him what I thought it was worth. "I know that he paid a lot."

The man smiled. "You have here 2 carats of diamonds, and 18 carats of gold. I could give you…" He paused to think. I knew very little about jewelry. I could only hope that was good by a jeweler's standards. "Oh, about three thousand? Does that sound fair?"

I tried not to appear as star-struck as I felt. That would definitely get us to Detroit and back. "That sounds great." I smiled.

I almost thought he was joking. He seemed like nothing I would have imagined of a pawn broker, and I could recall the price tag. I'd expected about ¼ of what Victor had paid. This was much better than I had thought it to be. But the man wasn't joking. He graciously handed me the money, and I walked out of there three thousand dollars richer, and a big burden lighter. 

**a/n: oh, goodness. already twenty one chapters in, are we? if you have stuck with it this far, then you are wonderful. I appreciate all of your work in reviewing, because it makes me write more, quicker. chapter twenty two is the longest one yet, and i enjoyed writing it, so i'm looking forward to seeing your thoughts on this chapter before i go ahead and post the next. let me know what you think :) love, belle.**


	22. Chapter 22

Getting out the court's gates proved a lot easier than I had thought it would be. I wasn't going to crawl into a trunk this time; It was beginning to feel a little cliché. Surely the guardians would begin to catch on to that old trick. Besides, it was just Christian and myself. We didn't have anybody to drive us. Not that Christian was forbidden to leave, but if he was gone, it would draw attention to the fact that nobody had seen Lissa in a few days. I wondered how much time we had before Dimitri noticed our absence. I'd hidden the files between Lissa's mattress, so as not to give Dimitri any leads on where we were.

We got out the gate the good old-fashioned way. We walked right through it. Well, Christian walked through it. I ran through it. Christian simply said he was going out to go for a jog. It was a pretty lame excuse by my judgment, but the guardians barely gave him a second thought. I don't think they realized who he was, not that it would have mattered much. Christian never really got any attention; People still connected him with the choice his parents had made, and they often walked on egg-shells around him. When they opened the gate for Christian, he immersed them in conversation, and I slipped through. Honestly, this was pretty shitty security. No wonder Robert and Victor had been able to get in the court undetected. I thought the queen's guardians must be the same.

Fortunately, we didn't have to walk far until we came across the car that Eddie, Lissa, and Adrian had abandoned. It was pushed down the embankment, so that it was not obviously visible. Nobody would have seen it because nobody really came in or out of the court very often. Finding the car was easy. Getting it started was the next obstacle.

I had seen a few movies in which people had hotwired cars, and I'll admit, I've always desperately wanted to try it. But I had absolutely no clue what I was doing. I said we should break the window; It seemed that all you did was reach under the driver's seat and pull out the wires down there. Christian had laughed at that. "You need to open the hood."

I frowned. "Well, then we still have to break the window."

"Do you just want to break something?" He asked me seriously. "Because if you do, I'd rather you get it out now."

"I just don't see how you're going to get under the hood without getting in the car and pressing the release button."

Christian smiled. "You so underestimate me, Rose." He looked around, and I wanted to ask what he was doing now, but I crossed my arms moodily and let him go about scouring the ground. I was kind of intrigued. He picked up a fallen branch from the ground and examined it. I wanted to laugh, but he looked serious. He inspected the point end, wrapping a hand around it to test the strength. As he moved to the hood of the car, I wanted to punch him in the stomach just to get rid of the smirk on his face. But he let it drop as he slid the pointed end of the stick under the hood and pushed down on the part of the stick closest to him. There was a _pop! _and I thought that the stick had broken in half. Instead, I was astounded to see that the hood had popped up.

"How…"

"It's all about leverage." He winked, and I knew he was pretty damn proud of himself. But that was just the first step. I moved closer, so that I could see what he was doing. Christian was at work, unplugging wires and plugging them in to different locations. After a few moments he straightened up, brushing his hands together. He slammed the hood back down and smiled at me.

"Now we break the window."

I stared at him, incredulous. "Why didn't we just do that in the first place?"

Christian shrugged, a smile tugging at his lips. "It's more fun this way. You want the whole experience, right?"

I considered that. I was a fugitive. I may as well act like one. "Fine. But I'm breaking the window."

"Only fair." He agreed. I considered my move. Kicking the window in would be fun, but that seemed like it wouldn't end well. So I removed the shirt I'd been wearing over a red tank top and wrapped it around my fist. I knew it would take a lot of force to break the window; they'd been made to resist slight impact. I gave everything I had into that punch; the glass shattered around my fist, falling onto the driver's seat. I climbed in through the window, situating myself in the passenger seat.

"You couldn't open the door?" Christian taunted. I smirked.

"I wanted the full experience." I quipped, unlocking the door for him. He shook his head and got in the car.

"Now what?"

"Now we need to pop the steering column." He said quietly.

"Should I get the stick?" I was only half-joking, but Christian didn't find it funny.

"A stick isn't going to work this time. We need something stronger." I frowned, wondering how he expected we'd get anything better than a stick. I looked into the back seat, moving around a heavy jacket. A gleam of silver caught my eye, and I grabbed the object, reveling in the feel of it in my hand. I held the stake out to Christian.

"How 'bout this?"

"That's not going to work." He scoffed. "It's not sharp enough."

"Sharp enough to pierce a heart." I argued, sliding the point level with the crack in the steering column. I pushed it into the split, thrusting all the weight I could manage on it. There was a slight noise as the column popped. I looked at Christian smugly. "It's all about the pressure." I told him with a wink, in a damn good imitation of his earlier statement to me. He simply shook his head and moved to find the wires. He could barely see at that angle, but he moved his fingers like an expert. He definitely knew what he was doing. It was only a matter of a minute or two before I heard the engine come to life. Christian leaned back in the seat, a full smile now on his lips. "Where'd you learn to hotwire a car?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"Call it a hobby." He looked over at me. "You should put your seat belt on." I wanted to laugh at him, but I wasn't taking any chances. My last bad experience in a car had killed me. Literally. Lissa wasn't here to bring me back this time, and honestly, I suspected there was a limit on how many times you could cheat death. I had no intentions of finding out. I obliged Christian, but I noted that he didn't do the same.

"I don't think Lissa would approve." I said.

"Of my hobby?" He laughed. I didn't know if I had meant his hobby, or his not wearing a seat belt. Deciding to let it go, I nodded. "It's not really a hobby anymore. Not now that Lissa has reformed me. It's just one of those things that you don't forget, like riding a bike." He pushed on the gas (much too fast) and we lurched forward. I wasn't sure how we were going to get back on the level road, but Christian didn't seem too worried about that. He accelerated even faster, and we went flying through the rocky terrain. Clouds of dust flew up around us, coming in the car through the broken window.

I didn't bother speaking. We couldn't have heard each other over the roar of the wind rushing by us anyways. I rolled my own window down, letting the wild wind whip through my long hair. I was nervous, of course, but I didn't expect any of the mountains to jump out in front of us, and so I relaxed into the seat, savoring the feel of this freedom. I glanced at the speedometer only once and saw that we were going over ninety miles an hour. I thanked God that we were on such a desolate road.

Though I wasn't keeping track of time, we made it to the airport in about thirty minutes, shaving off an extra half an hour thanks to Christian's tripling the speed limit. We had an hour to spare before the flight, and we took the opportunity to get food. I was grateful I had cash, since (ironically enough) it didn't leave a paper trail. I paid for our McDonald's, to Christian's objection. Honestly, he was worried about becoming indebted to me for a 2.99 happy meal.

As we were heading into our terminal, I felt anxious. I had the bank statement in my pocket so that I would have the address and phone number just in case. But I had already memorized the address anyways. I had wanted to bring the stake with me, because I knew I wasn't going to miraculously find another one. But I knew that airline security would never pass a stake through their gates, or onto a plane.

I opted for first class, simply because I could, and Christian and I each got our own row. The flight attendant was a cheery young woman, probably in her twenties. She told us if we needed anything to just go ahead and ask her. She said it would take about three hours to get there, and I was content with that.

I didn't really plan on going to sleep, but when I felt it beginning to fall down on me, I didn't fight it. I hoped Adrian would come, but my dreams were Adrian free for the better part of the flight. I was beginning to feel that lucid feeling, when you're caught in that stage between sleep and wakefulness, and then suddenly I was pulled all the way under. I found Adrian sitting on a bench. I didn't recognize where we were, but it was peaceful. It was daytime; the moon hung in a cloudless sky, the stars clustering around it. I smiled at him, taking a seat beside him.

"I thought you weren't going to come." I smiled, putting my hand in his.

"How could I stay away?" He returned my smile, flashing those impossibly white teeth. I took a moment to observe him. He looked good…exceptionally good. In fact, I think he looked better than he had upon leaving.

"What have you been up to?" I asked, eyeing him.

"Haven't you been checking in?"

I shook my head. "I've been kind of busy."

Adrian nodded his understanding, and I don't know whether I was happy or sad that he didn't ask what had been keeping me busy. "We've met all kinds of users, Rose."

I didn't understand immediately. "Users?" I asked, worried. Then, I had a flash of understanding. "You've been playing with spirit."

"You haven't noticed any of the effects?" He asked gleefully. I considered that. I had been feeling pretty normal, considering recent events.

"Not really."

"Wonderful." His smile held so much joy that I wanted to smile too. But I was still confused.

"If you've been playing with spirit, how come I haven't noticed? Unless, Lissa hasn't?"

"Oh she has." Adrian assured me. "Oksana and Mark have been working tirelessly to fix the bond."

"What do you mean, fix it?" I didn't even register that he'd mentioned Mark and Oksana, a spirit bound couple I'd met in Russia.

"They said when you were here they gave you a ring. It helped heal away the darkness?"

"Yeah." I shrugged. It had been that ring that had given me the slightest hint that the stigoi could be healed out of Dimitri. Of course, I'd never have come to that conclusion all on my own, but the ring had helped.

"Well, they're doing that same thing, except different."

I laughed. "That makes no sense."

Adrian laughed too. "They're creating the same kind of spirit-charm, just like they did with that ring. It helps heal away the bad thoughts.

"But I'm not wearing the ring." I protested, showing him my hand as proof. His grin widened.

"Of course you aren't. Lissa is."

"What?" I stared at him, unsure of what I'd just heard.

"This time the ring works by blocking the negative, the darkness, from going through the bond."

"So Lissa's absorbing it?" I asked, a dangerous edge in my voice. Adrian looked offended, but I couldn't bring myself to care about that this very moment.

"Of course not. She's the one who radiates the darkness in the first place. She can't absorb it back into herself. It goes right into the ring before it can ever get to you." He looked proud of himself, as if he had personally come up with the idea.

"That's…" I couldn't think of a good word. "Genius."

"They're amazing. I wonder what it would be like…" His voice trailed off, and I snorted, bringing him out of his wistful thoughts.

"Being shadow kissed? It's a pain in the ass."

"I disagree. After everything you've gained from the bond…"

"Don't forget I had to die to get this." I remarked coolly. He brushed that off with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"Water under the bridge, so long as you could be brought back."

"But you can't bring someone back." I insisted. Adrian's face fell only the slightest.

"I'm practicing." He said, his voice full of indignation.

"You're practicing bringing people back to life? What the hell are you guys doing over there?"

Adrian laughed loudly. "I'm practicing healing. You gotta pull yourself together, Rose. Maybe you should get some sleep."

"I am asleep." I smiled. "I don't want you to leave."

Adrian was going to raise no protest. "Ok, then I won't leave you. What have you been up to?"

I hesitated briefly. I was going to have to tell him eventually; If I didn't tell him, he'd find out from somebody else. "There is something I never got the chance to tell you," I began, and his face took on a look of worry. "It's nothing bad." I insisted. "On the day of my hearing, Ambrose gave me something. It was a note, from Tatiana."

He didn't bother trying to hide his surprise. "She left you a letter?"

I nodded. "She told me that Lissa had another sibling somewhere. She said she trusted me to find them, and said I shouldn't tell very many people about it. So I did a little research, and found out how to find them."

"Really? How are you going to do that?"

"How did I do that." I corrected. "I examined some files, read between the lines. Either way, right now I'm on a flight to Michigan to meet this person."

Adrian didn't seem to have any words for that. He simply looked at me. "What are you saying?"

"Christian and I left court." I announced, unable to make it any more clear. Adrian cursed, and he looked suddenly weary. I felt a pang of compassion for him. "Hey, don't worry about me. If they find me guilty-"

"They won't." He said firmly. I gave him a small smile, but I think I only succeeded in looking sad.

"If they find me guilty," I continued. "Then contempt charges won't matter very much. You know what they do to traitors. And if they don't find me guilty-"

"They won't." He insisted.

"Then what are they going to do to me for contempt? Make me pay a fine or something? That's not good enough to keep me locked up."

A sigh escaped him as he shook his head. "You're so reckless. I love that about you."

I smiled. I wanted to say something back, but I was beginning to feel all hazy again. "Don't tell Lissa, please."

"You have my promise." Adrian leaned close and wrapped an arm around me, putting his other hand on the back of my head. He pulled me in for a kiss, and I only got to enjoy it briefly before I felt myself slipping away from him. "Be careful." He warned, and I nodded at him just before I woke up.

**a/n: Ok, I liked writing this chapter, but then, Adrian and Christian are my two favorites :) I hope that you enjoyed reading it too. I also like the next chapter, in which we meet the last Dragomir. So tell me your thoughts. Love you guys :)**


	23. Chapter 23

Detroit lay sprawled out below us like a pop-up story book. We had left the court just after I had returned with the money, and so now the sun was beginning to set, casting the river into a beautiful replica of the sky that hung around us. The pinks and oranges danced off the Detroit River, and I could see the sun hanging in the distance, just about ready to dip down and disappear into the horizon. The planes windows were small, but they still provided me with a fabulous view.

I turned to look at Christian, who was leaning back in his seat. I hadn't noticed that his legs were up and crossed, his feet resting on the chair in front of him, which was unoccupied. I rolled my eyes at him. The sign flashed above the entrance for everyone to be putting their seatbelts on, and I saw the flight attendant walking down the aisle, ensuring that everyone was secured in their seat. "We'll be landing in just a minute." She announced gleefully, and I wondered how she could stand to be stuck on a plane all day.

The airport came into my view, and I saw the runway stretching out below us. I could feel as the plane made it's descent. I had expected it would take a while once we touched ground for everything to be set up, but it was surprisingly quick. Within a few minutes, we were allowed to exit into the terminal.

Neither Christian or myself had brought along anything. A suitcase would drag us down, and we really didn't intend on sight-seeing while we were there. The plan was to get the Dragomir and take them back to court, willingly or not. Christian suggested calling a rental car, but my last experience with a rental car was not something I wanted to remember. Besides, we'd been lucky to find somebody who would rent to such young people. So, we ended up on the curb of the busy airport, trying to hail a cab.

The first class section of the plane hadn't been very full, but the airport was crawling with people, some running around and others walking like they were on leisurely strolls. In any event, all these people made getting a cab that much more difficult. Christian was the one who finally managed to catch the attention of a cab driver. I wouldn't have known it was him if it hadn't been for the concentrated look on his face, but a small, controlled fire was all it took. He started it out in the middle of the road, and people barely noticed it, until the cab driver came screeching to a halt.

People began to look around, and to make it even more unbelievable, Christian let the flames disappear. I started to give him a disapproving look, but it _had _made the cab driver stop. I went over to the door, Christian in tow, and we slid into the back. "We're going to West Brook Lane." I announced. The cab driver turned around to look at us, as if he hadn't known we were in the car. His face was pale, and it did a good job displaying his confusion.

"But…" He mumbled in protest. "The fire?" I noticed, with a slight hint of amusement, that he had an accent typical of Boston, which sounded really funny in his disconcerted frame of mind.

I fixed him with a concerned look, while Christian stayed impassive. "I didn't see any fire."

"It was in the road. And then it wasn't." He held his hands together, and then let them span out, to show us how it had just appeared from nowhere. I looked at Christian, trying to bait the cab driver.

"He's seeing things." I worked to make my voice sound naïve. "Maybe we should find another taxi."

That got his attention, and he straightened up. "No, no, it was just a trick of the mind. An optical illusion…yeah, that's it. I'll take you where you need to go."

"We're going to West Brook Lane." I announced again, and he gave me a funny look.

"West Brook Lane, you say? Cab fare is two dollars a mile. West Brook's in Belle Isle, about thirty miles away. You're looking at about ninety dollars."

Christian laughed. "Thirty miles at two dollars a mile is sixty dollars. Where the hell did the other thirty come from?"

"That includes gratuity, the cab fare, peak hours fee, and fuel fee." He looked at me. "That's what I got. Take it or leave it."

"That's fine." I said, uninterested. Christian looked at me like I was crazy, but I reached into my pocket and withdrew the wad of cash I'd stuffed in there. I saw the taxi driver's eyes light up.

"There's also a charge for additional passengers. The rate's only for one of yins."

I raised an eyebrow at him. Christian looked pissed. If the cab driver wasn't a human, I would have allowed Christian to start a fire in the passenger seat just to scare the life out of him, but since he was, I would have to deal with it accordingly. I handed him two one hundred dollar bills. "Get us there in one piece, or you'll be pawning all the money to your name for reconstructive surgery." I left the threat to hang, and while the man did look at me doubtfully, he gave Christian a nervous look.

"Alright. To West Brook then." He turned around and stepped on the gas. I looked at Christian, feeling suddenly like pouting.

"Why's he scared of _you_?"

"Cause he knows I'm a pyro." Christian grinned. He saw the irritation on my face and laughed. "We're out with the humans now. He doesn't know you're a dhampir. He doesn't know you spent your whole life training to kick ass. If he knew what those tattoos on your neck meant, he'd fall all over himself kissing your ass. He thinks your human, and let's face it, human girls just aren't very threatening."

"That's not always true." I said, though I was happier to have my strength validated. I was thinking of Sydney. She wasn't the kind of person I could foresee in a bar fight or punching out taxi drivers, but she was formidable in her own way.

"Either way, we got what we wanted. It was way over-priced, though."

I shrugged. "I honestly don't care. I just want to get this over with."

"Have you even thought about what you're going to say?

"Yes." I had thought about it many times, but I still had not been able to come to any sort of conclusion about how I should approach the situation. What if the people were human? If the mother wasn't a moroi, then explaining a world of vampires would be really challenging. Apart from that, there were other intricacies of our world that humans didn't understand.

"And what is that?" He assumed a mocking air. "Hey, you're royalty. You need to come with us, so that our friend can vote in the royal court?" Christian laughed. "Not very convincing, Rose."

"What do you propose?" I asked critically, although I really did want to know what he would do in the situation.

"No idea. I'm just along for the ride."

"It's your girlfriend!"

Christian raised his hands, renouncing any claims to responsibility. "Tatiana entrusted this to _you_. This is your obligation."

I gave him a look of as much contempt as I could manage. "When this is all done and over with, I'm going to tell Lissa you said that." Christian smiled, and I turned to look out at the city that we were driving through.

I lost myself in my thoughts. It was as if the lights and movement of the city could transcend time, because I barely even noticed that we were in the back of a cab until the car turned off of the main city streets. We went down the road, which turned into a residential area at the end. A great, beautiful sign read Belle Isle, and we went right past it, entering into a neighborhood.

To the left and right were beautiful little houses, each with it's own charm. They were decent-sized homes, each with the same basic structure, but painted in different colors with ornaments on the lawn. "What's the address?" The driver asked. I felt instinctively for the piece of paper in my pocket, but I knew the street address even without looking.

"92467." I craned my neck to look at the numbers on the mailboxes. The numbers went up the further we went down the street. I think I was the first to see our destination. The numbers on the mailbox jumped out at me, calling me to attention. We came to a halt at the foot of the driveway, and got out of the cab wordlessly. The driver went off without any other words.

The house was…quaint. It was definitely in opposition to the grandiose house that I had imagined. It certainly didn't look out of the ordinary, or like the people inside were millionaires. It was the same size and structure as it's neighbors, but it had it's own distinctive charm in it's white siding and red trim. There was one large, sturdy tree in the front yard. It was sweet, but I'd imagined with the millions of dollars that went into their bank account, they could afford a more lavish abode. I made my thoughts know to Christian.

"Maybe they spend all their money on other things." He suggested, uninterested. "Like alcohol or drugs." Leave it to Christian to look on the bright side. But he was right. He's been doing that a lot lately, and it's pretty scary. I had no idea what kind of people lived in that house, even with all of it's whimsical appeal.

Still, as I looked at the house, I could tell it was a home. There was time and effort put into the manicured lawn and the brightly colored flowers that lined the driveway. There was a walkway from the curb up to the front porch composed of round stepping stones. The first of these exhibited a small set of handprints. The stone after showed a set that was slightly bigger, and so on. I felt a small amount of jealousy at the hominess of it. I did love my mother, but we'd never had the kind of relationship like these people. Then again, perhaps I was coming to conclusions too quick. You probably shouldn't judge a family by their house.

The front porch bore a welcome mat with a picture of a birdhouse on it. "Cute." Christian smirked. I ignored him, reaching out to press the door bell.

I could faintly hear the chimes echoing through the house, announcing my presence. There were a few moments of silence in which I hoped that I hadn't awaken anybody, and then I heard the barking of a dog. There was some scuffle from behind the door. I was beginning to feel really nervous.

I hadn't planned a conversation. What was I supposed to say? I suppose if I saw the mistress I could tell her how I knew she had an illegitimate child with Eric Dragomir. I felt a panic unfurl in me; What if the occupants of the house _were _human? What if I woke them up? I was beginning to really consider bolting, but I could hear the tumblers turning as the door was opened. A woman poked her head around the door. She did not appear to have been disturbed from sleep, but she did look confused. That look was soon replaced with a smile.

"Rose. This is a pleasant surprise. What are you doing here?"

I tried to grapple for words, but my astonishment was casting me into silence. I could only look at the beautiful woman behind the door, wondering whether I'd gotten the address right.

"Who's at the door, mom?" A second figure appeared in the doorway, and my attention shifted to her. I stood frozen, uncapable of coherent thought. So I stated the first thing that came to mind, the only thing I could manage to get out.

"Jill." 

**a/n: ok, my little dimitri devouts, he's not here for a reason. he is not dead, and he will be back, so no worries there, k? i don't really know what to say, except i hope you like this chapter? it was a little droll up until the very end. tell me what you think :) much much love.**


	24. Chapter 24

Christian and I allowed ourselves to be ushered into the house. I was still much too shocked to say anything, and Emily insisted we join them at the table for dinner. We both took a seat in the high-backed chairs, and Jill popped into the seat next to mine, looking positively jubilant. "How did you know where I lived?" She asked in excitement. Emily smiled at her daughter as she doled pasta onto a plate and set it before me. She did the same for Christian, who smiled politely. I just looked at her, confused.

"I didn't know you lived here." I said, trying to contend with everything that was going on in my mind. Emily looked at me, her face concerned.

"Didn't you come for my birthday?" Jill asked with a smile. Her birthday? That must be some coincidence. What was today? I thought hard, but it wasn't easy to recall. The past week had been composed of the longest days of my life. Darkness melted into light, and working on a vampiric schedule and then switching to that of a humans was really messing with my mind. And then I remembered. June 29th. It all clicked into place in my head as I recalled the bank statement, and the $600,000 deposits that occurred June 29th every year.

"Course we did." Christian smiled. "We missed you."

Jill beamed. "Where's Lissa? And Adrian?" Her cheeks turned pink at the mention of Adrian's name, and I couldn't help a small smile.

"At court." Christian answered. I was glad that he understood what was going on, because my brain was still in limbo. "There's been a lot going on over there." Emily turned to look at us, genuinely interested. She was moroi, I knew. Shouldn't she know what had happened?

"What's been going on?" She sat in the chair next to Jill and looked between Christian and I. I looked at Christian, who shook his head. He wasn't going to explain it. I sighed.

"It's really a long story." I said, hoping that would dissuade them. But Jill was rapt with excitement.

"I want to know everything. I haven't heard anything about our world all summer!" She cast a wary look at her mother.

"Ok." It had all begun when I broke Victor out of jail, but I wasn't about to explain that part to Jill and her mother. "On Lissa's eighteenth birthday, she went to visit Lehigh with Christian and some guardians. Priscilla Voda, who was accompanying her, died when Strigoi attacked. That's why the Royal Court passed an age decree so that dhampirs will now graduate at the age of sixteen to become guardians, but it wasn't fair because the Dragomir name wasn't being represented. A few days later, Queen Tatiana was found murdered in her bed." Jill's face turned pale, and Emily's mouth formed a tortured O. I may as well leave out the part that I was the main suspect in the murder.

"That's terrible." Jill said, and I could tell she meant it. She'd never had any experience with the queen, and so she knew nothing of her reign of terror. Ok, the queen hadn't been _that_ bad, I suppose.

"Who has taken her place on the throne?" Emily breathed, looking fearful. I shrugged.

"Nobody yet. It's only been a few days."

Emily nodded, but she looked now like she was uncomfortable. I appraised her calmly, wondering why they were out of the loop on the happenings of our world. I think I'd have any easier time telling this to a bunch of strangers. Did Jill know who her father was? Did Emily really even know? It was possible it could have been a quick thing; No names necessary, that way things don't get sticky. Of course, I'd think all bets would be off when a child came into the picture. Looking at Emily, though, I didn't see her as the type of person that would be ok with that. I cleared my throat.

"The queen left me with something to do. She entrusted me with finding the Last Dragomir." I was watching Emily's face for any inflection, but Jill spoke and captured my attention.

"Did you find them?"

I smiled at her. "Yes." Emily stood up quickly, moving just as gracefully as ever.

"Can I have a word, Rose?" I grimaced at Christian, but nodded and followed Emily from the kitchen. She led me into the living room, and I thought she'd stop there, but she actually led me to the door. We went outside and stood on the porch, and she closed the door behind her. When she turned to look at me, I could see by the moonlight that she knew what I was up to. She looked at me, her face distressed. "You know?"

I looked at her shrewdly. "Jill's father…"

Emily looked as though she might cry. "I put her in such a terrible place. I never wanted any of that for my child. The life of court…parties and gossip. They're such frivolous things, Rose."

"So why'd you do it?" I asked, trying not to feel very sympathetic towards her.

Emily laughed. "Eric was a good man, Rose. He was a perfect gentleman most days, though he did like to enjoy himself." She sighed. "I was part of a traveling ballet company. We performed all over the country. One day we were performing in Las Vegas in a place called the Lotus Blossom. But we were staying at another hotel: the Witching Hour. That's where I met him." The smile that was on her face was sweet, wistful. "It was a whirlwind thing. I wouldn't expect you to understand because I don't understand it, myself. We met only twice, but I would have gone to the end of the world for him. He was unlike any person I'd ever met before. But he had a wife, and a family. I couldn't allow anything more between us, for his family's sake.

"When I found out about Jill, I wasn't going to tell him. I didn't want to draw him back into a situation that would risk his family." She paused, then added an afterthought. "Or his status. But I knew I had to tell him, and so I did. And it was the best thing I've ever done. He wanted to be a part of her life. He loved her just as he loved his other children. Eric assured that I was taken care of during my pregnancy, and when Jill was born we would meet at the Witching Hour every other weekend. We kept up appearances, of course. Nobody ever saw us together. He was always with another young woman so that it looked like he only came to Vegas to party. But he wanted to spend every second with her." Emily sighed.

"As much as he loved her, though, we knew that she couldn't be a part of his life. He was respected and important, and he loved his wife and children. He was willing to jeopardize that, but it wasn't something I could allow. I knew that he could not have his life both ways, and the way I saw it, he already had two children who loved him dearly. I couldn't take their father's attention from them, and I couldn't make him choose. I never wanted her to have that kind of a life anyways. The royal court is much too petty, and convoluted. It's selfish, but I wanted my daughter to work for her rewards in life, to build her own character and come by her own mistakes and triumphs. We agreed on that, but I wouldn't allow him to visit here and there, dropping by as he pleased. That's no way for a child to know her father. It was all or nothing, and we knew it had to be nothing. He offered me money. Rose, he offered me a lot of money. I was mad at first; I thought it was bribe money, to make me stay quiet. But it was so much money, and it's not easy for a single working parent to raise a child. So I accepted his gracious offer. It wasn't for me. It was for Jill."

I recalled how hardly any money had been taken from the account. I wondered whether Jill knew about that. Emily sighed. "That's why we live here, far away from that world. I don't keep any contact with it. Jill does only when she is at school. We live here, and I work here, and we've never known anything else."

"Does Jill know?"

Emily pursed her lips and shook her head ever so slightly. "I've thought of telling her many times, don't get me wrong. But I always find a reason not to."

"She needs to know." I said, feeling awkward for telling Emily how to handle her daughter. "Jill has a place in the court, whether you like it or not. She has an obligation to our people, and to her family."

Emily nodded, but she looked like she wanted to cry. "I'll tell her." She promised. "I'll tell her tonight. If you guys would like to stay for a while longer, I'd really like that."

I considered that. I was tired from all this running around. It certainly wouldn't kill us to sit and stay in one place for a while. "Ok." Emily nodded, her face showing relief, and to my surprise, she wrapped me in a hug. I think it was for her benefit, but I decided to hug her back.

"Thank you for understanding." She said, wiping a stray tear away from her cheek. I smiled, and we went back into the house to find Jill and Christian were no longer sitting at the table. Instead, they were sitting on the living room floor, cross-legged. Christian had a fire going right in the middle of the air, and Jill was focusing on containing the orb of water above it. The water was roiling, forming bubbles that fell down towards the fire and bounced back up. I shook my head at them and looked to Emily, who I expected to yell. Instead, she only smiled.

As if they had planned it, Jill let her concentration drop and the water fell through the air like a rainfall. The droplets disappeared just before hitting the ground. Christian's flames disappeared at the same time. "I feel like hot chocolate." Jill said, getting up. Emily smiled, moving toward the kitchen.

"I'll get it." She looked between Christian and Jill with a wry smile. "The old fashioned way, if you don't mind."

"You've gotten better." Christian told Jill when her mom had cleared the room. Jill smiled.

"I've been practicing this whole time. I have nothing better to do around here. Wanna see something cool?"

"Sure."

"Ok." Jill closed her eyes, concentrating. Water began to fall down, as if it were coming straight through the ceiling. She didn't let it touch the ground though. Instead, it stopped half way through the air, and soon the whole ceiling was under water. Then it began to fall, and I feared that it would come crushing down on top of us. Instead, it appeared to be raining down _around _us, but not on us. I felt a cool breeze lifting my hair, and I was absolutely clueless as to what was going on until the water stopped and Jill turned to look at us. The breeze stopped too. "It's like a force field." She smiled. Christian looked mildly impressed.

"How did you do that? Keep the water away from us, I mean."

"I used the water from the air to make it rain. Mia taught me that. And I used the air to keep the rain away from us."

I paused. "You used air?"

"Yep."

"And water?"

"Yeah."

I was confused. "You can use both?"

Jill smiled. "I don't know how that happened, but yeah. I thought I could only use air, and then one day I could use water too."

"What about fire?" I asked, intrigued. Jill looked sad about that.

"Nope. That's what Christian and I always tried to do when we weren't fighting." I looked at Christian. Somehow, I had figured I should have known that. "I wish I could though."

"And what about spirit?"

Jill looked awed as I mentioned that. "I've never tried." She confessed, "But I don't think I can. Just water and air."

I had never heard of that being possible before. Though it was possible for everybody to tap into other elements, Moroi only specialized in one: Earth, air, fire, and water were the four most common. Spirit was a possibility too, although it was still pretty much an underground thing, even though Lissa and Adrian were both very forthcoming in the knowledge they had on the matter. And yet, here was Jill Mastrano, of all people, wielding two elements. I wanted to ask her some more questions, but I was interrupted when Emily showed up with a plate in her hand. She balanced it perfectly, and the mugs atop it didn't quiver. She handed one to Christian and one to me. I caught her eye as I accepted the drink, and she gave me a curt nod.

"Jill," Emily began, "Come help me clean the kitchen?"

Jill rolled her eyes, but she stood up and obliged her mother. When they were gone, I told Christian everything that I knew about Jill, everything that Emily had just told me. Christian seemed pretty much unfazed by it all. His only thought was that it was odd we'd known Jill without noticing she was Lissa's sister.

"They don't look anything alike." I said instantly, thinking of Lissa's angelic appearance. Jill was very pretty, but she looked much more Earthy compared to Lissa's surreal presence.

"Have you ever really looked at her?" Chrstian mused. "They have the same exact eyes. It actually always creeped me out. At least now I know why."

I took that into consideration. When I'd first met Jill, I had noticed her eyes, that light shade of green. I wasn't going to tell Christian he had a point, because he had to be getting a big ego by now. He seemed to know everything lately.

"I can't believe she has two elements." I mused. Christian shrugged.

"It's weird, but Jill's different."

"What do you mean, different?" I asked, scanning his face.

"She's just unlike other moroi, that's all. She's more dedicated then most, and she practices a lot. Maybe she just taught herself how to use water. That's why I tried teaching her fire."

"Did she try teaching you water or air?" It was not a bad idea. Water and fire were opposing sources, but both could prove invaluable.

"Nope. I was never really interested." He shrugged.

"Why not? I would want to do as much as I could."

"It's exhausting, Rose. Why tire yourself out doing extra magic when you've already got a good power."

"You're just lazy." I said, gaining a new respect for Jill. Christian shrugged, but he wasn't going to refute that claim. I thought of Lissa, of the toll spirit was taking on her, and I hoped that they were being careful over there, playing with spirit. I was going to tell Christian the last thing I'd heard about Lissa from Adrian, but the door was thrown open and Jill came stalking into the room, looking more upset then I'd ever seen her.

"I'm leaving." She announced. I shared a quick glance with Christian, and we ran after her. We were halfway down the street before Jill stopped running and slowed down.

"Hey, Jill, slow down." I stepped in front of her, and she turned to look at me. her face was like stone, but her eyes were brimming with tears.

"I hate her." She whispered to me. I noticed her hands clenched into fists at her sides.

"You don't hate her, Jill. Calm down."

"How could she do that to me?" She asked. I tried to think of an answer, but none would come because Jill absolved into tears, leaving me speechless.

**a/n: Ok, let me explain...when we first meet Jill in Shadow Kiss we are told her element is air. And then in Blood Promise she tlls Adrian she is a water user. Some people have speculated that is simply a mistake, but I think there are no mistakes in writing. Everything can work to your advantage if you try ;) Ok, so I'm so happy Jill is back! Yay, Jailbait! Hope you liked it. Let me know what your thoughts are. I get my mail on my blackberry, so whenever I get an email I jump and pray it's another review, cause they make me so happy :) Ok, no more blabbing. Reviews please = D love BelleCeline**


	25. Chapter 25

Talking Jill down from the ledge was exhausting, considering I still didn't understand everything about what had transpired between her and her mother. I could only figure out that Emily had told her who her father was. I don't understand exactly why Jill was so upset, if she'd never known him anyways. I hadn't known my father up until just recently, and I wouldn't have even known Abe was my father if I hadn't figured it out myself. I hadn't cried, even though I think I had every right to do so upon learning that I was the offspring of Zmey. But Jill was different than me; She was younger, and with more child-like innocence. I couldn't help but feel for her.

I held Jill until she was able to stop the tumultuous tears. She pulled back, and, looking embarrassed, wiped her face. "Sorry." She mumbled. I smiled weakly at her, and Christian placed an awkward hand on her back, giving her a quick pat.

"It's ok." I said.

"Nice birthday present, huh?" She gave a hollow laugh, and I could feel her disappointment burning into me. I looked at Christian helplessly.

"Jill…" I began, unsure of what I was going to say. "Do you want to go do something?"

She wiped her eyes again, looking at me with curiosity. "Like what?"

"Something fun?" I said, in a lame attempt to cheer her up. Jill was scowling, but she did seem to perk up a bit. Only problem was, I didn't know what to do to make her feel better. I gave Christian a desperate look.

"How would you feel about going to a party?" He asked her. I groaned inwardly. I knew of no parties, and I really wasn't in a party mood. I really wanted nothing more than sleep. But I saw the desire beginning to form in Jill's eyes, and I gave Christian an angry look.

"Where would we throw a party?" She asked, looking back over her shoulder with a contemptuous glance. I could tell she didn't want to go back to her house any time soon.

"We aren't going to throw a party." Christian said. "But we can crash one, if you want."

"Crash it?" Jill repeated at the same time as me, our voices in synch. Except Jill's was curious and excited. Mine was disapproving.

"Sure. Jesse Zeklos is having a party tonight. Nobody will care if we show up."

"Excuse me," I said hotly. "I'll care." Jesse was not one of my favorite people. I didn't want to go to a party at all, and I really didn't want to be seen at one of his parties. Besides, I wasn't supposed to be seen out and about without Lissa. I looked to Jill, and saw her looking a little put out. But she was still holding onto a sliver of hope that I would agree to go.

"You don't count." Christian said dismissively. Jill looked between us, torn.

"I'd like to go…" She said quietly. Her gaze and Christian's fell upon me, making me uncomfortable. I didn't want to go, but I felt so bad for Jill. She needed something to take her mind off of all of this. I sighed.

"Fine."

Christian smiled at Jill's exuberant squeak. She rushed forward and hugged me again, and I hoped I was making the right decision in agreeing to go. We had to get back to Court before we could go to any party, though, which meant we needed a taxi. Luckily, Jill was all over that. She'd been given a cell phone a few weeks ago as an early birthday gift, and she used that to dial 411 and get a cab sent to us. I was very hesitant about waiting for the cab out in the middle of the road. I told Jill we should go back to her house and tell her mother where we were going, but Jill wanted nothing to do with her mother at the moment.

"Why?" She asked me defiantly. "She doesn't care about me anyways."

"Jill…" I sighed. I had forgotten what it was like to be fifteen. I had thought the very same thing of my mother at her age. Everything was so much more dramatic in your younger teenage years, and the only way to simmer down from an emotional high like that was to let your anger take it's course. "Just remember, she loves you, ok?"

Jill avoided making eye contact, but I was sure she knew that her mom cared. Her anger was speaking louder than reason right now, which was something that I could understand. I didn't miss being her age even for a minute.

"So," Christian said when we were in the back of another cab. "How's this for a birthday present?"

Jill smiled. "I'm so glad you guys came to rescue me! If you guys hadn't been there when she told me, I don't know what I would have done."

_Probably lock yourself in your room and cry, _I thought. But I was just now tackling what Jill had said. "She wouldn't have told you if we hadn't come." It was an inconvenient truth, of course, but she deserved to know. Jill frowned, looking perplexed. "It wasn't any coincidence that we came here right before your mom told you."

"You knew?" Jill asked, her voice full of anxiety and betrayal.

"I didn't know it was you. I just knew I had to find the last Dragomir."

"That's all I am now? The Dragomir? Am I even Jill anymore?"

I looked at her, trying to conceal just how ridiculous I thought she was being. "Of course you are. But you have an obligation-"

"No, you have an obligation." Jill said quietly, cutting me off. I was surprised to hear her interrupt me. I think she was too, because she avoided looking at me. "You have an obligation to me. I don't understand what's going on."

I'd thought that part was imminently clear, but I guess not. I sighed. "You are from a Royal family. That puts you in a position where you're going to have to make choices-"

"That's not what I mean." She said. But she did not offer to elaborate or tell me what she meant, so we rode the rest of the way to the airport in silence. By some little miracle, we made it to the airport twenty minutes before the plane we needed was due to depart. Because we had no wait time to figure in, we were on the plane within moments of purchasing our tickets.

Christian sat on his own again, and Jill sat next to me, although she didn't seem very happy about it. I was beginning to feel hazy, and I was feeling like sleeping. At least the ghosts didn't bother me the way they used to when I was flying. I figured since Christian was far away and Jill wasn't feeling very cordial, I would allow myself to rest, but just when I curled my body against the window, Jill turned to me.

"Tell me everything." She said, her voice cracking from staying so quiet for so long. I looked at her in surprise.

"Everything about what?"

"I want to know everything that happened since you guys came to Court. I want to know how you found out about me. And I want to know what he was like."

It didn't take a neurosurgeon to figure out that she wanted to know everything about Eric. I nodded. "Ok. Where should I start?"

"The part when you got to court. Tell me what you've been doing since then."

And so I did. I spent the entire ride filling her in on everything, and just as she asked me to, I left out no details. I told her all about how Dimitri had captured Lissa and Christian to get to me, recalling how we had attacked and how Lissa had saved Dimitri. I told her of how, after he'd come back he didn't want to see me, and how it was during that time that the royal court voted in favor of an age decree younger than the current one, how I'd argued it to be unfair. I explained to her the intricacies of the quorum, how there had to be a tie breaker, meaning the queen's vote had carried extra weight, since Lissa could not be recognized, seeing as she had no family. I recounted how it was shortly after that the queen was murdered, telling her in detail about the day the queen's guardian's had arrested me. I gave her every harrowing detail of my hearing and my stint in prison, told her that was why Adrian and Lissa had left to clear my name. I explained about the letter that Ambrose gave to me from the queen. I told her how I'd found another official letter from the queen in the form of her will, and how the signatures had matched. I explained how I'd pulled a lot of strings and done some risky things to obtain the information I needed to find her. I regretfully told her about what had happened with Mia, how Damon had turned, and even told her about how I pawned the necklace Victor Dashkov had gifted me to be able to afford this sojourn.

I wanted Jill to know that I trusted her, so that she would feel more open to trusting me. And it was true, because I really did trust her, unlike how I'd ever trusted anybody before. Perhaps it was the fact that she reminded me of Lissa now that I knew, particularly those innocent, hopeful green eyes. I even told her about how I'd broken Victor Dashkov out of prison in order to obtain information from his brother. When it was all said and done, she remained quiet.

"I'm sure you think I'm a horrible person." I mumbled. Jill looked at me defiantly.

"I don't think that at all. I think you're amazing…" I laughed. "Seriously. Look at all the things you've done for people other than yourself. You left school, risked your career, to save Dimitri when he was a strigoi. You broke a criminal out of prison because there was a sliver of hope that you could save the person you love! Rose, you left court even though you're not supposed to so that you could find me so Lissa could have a vote! And that can't even be considered selfish because her vote will fix the age decree and keep prospective guardians safe for a while longer." Her voice was getting louder, and I was really taken aback by this fierce side of her. It was something I never would have imagined I would see from her, but I got the feeling that if we weren't sitting on a plane side by side, she'd be shaking me.

"I sound crazy." I said. That wasn't a stretch. I had probably drawn too much darkness from Lissa. It was driving me nuts now. But Jill shook her head boldly.

"You're unbelievable." I frowned, and Jill jumped, looking apologetic. "Not in a bad way!" She was quick to correct herself. "You are honestly the most loyal person I've ever met. You risked your life and your freedom to save Dimitri. And on top of that, you did save him."

"Lissa saved him." I corrected. I wasn't the spirit user. I hadn't charmed the stake. I hadn't even been the one who used it.

"You did that. If you hadn't gone to find him, or broken Victor out of prison, he'd still be out there killing innocent people! You saved him and countless other people because of an unselfish act! I wish there were more people like you in the world."

I smiled, because I didn't know what else to do. I didn't mind receiving credit for my work, but Jill was practically putting me on a pedestal. I was secretly praying that she wasn't about to develop some kind of hero worship thing with me. I'd told Dimitri before, coincidentally when I'd first met Jill, that I did not think myself a good role model. If I wasn't careful, Jill's flattery would get to my head.

Jill returned my smile and settled back into her seat. We were only a few minutes away from landing, and that caused me to face our next predicament. How were we going to actually get back to the court? Hotwiring the car hadn't been much of a problem the first time, considering that car was Guardian property, and I was a guardian. Here, at a busy airport, we couldn't just take any car we so pleased. While Christian had been right in stating that contempt charges were no big deal, I really didn't want to risk charges of grand theft auto, which could run into the human's methods of punishment. That sort of situation would get sticky. And even if we walked all the way there, how would we get in the gates? People leaving court was never a concern (except in my case). It was the people coming into court that were a predicament. These were the cars that could be randomly audited, checked for any weapons or fugitives.

Christian had no clue how to get in the gates, unless we sneaked right by them again the way I first had. However, he did know how to get us to the gates, which was something. Of course, with our options I should have been happy about what he came up with, but I couldn't bring myself to feel ok with stealing a child's bike. I insisted we call a taxi cab, but Christian said they didn't run that far out, because that would infringe upon the boundaries between moroi society and human society. I suggested a rental car, but we had no means of returning it, and once again there was the issue of being under age for that. Therefore, we had three options: One, being hotwiring a car. The second was walking all the way there, which would take a couple of hours. And the third was theft. Hotwiring another car probably would have sat better with me, but I eventually relented. Christian burned the ropes that tied the bikes to a tree outside the airport. By some trick of fate, there were exactly three bikes there. However, I figured these kids would need a way to get home. So I took one bike and Christian took another. Jill rode on the handle bars of Christian's, and though she was hesitant, I could tell she was excited by what was going on. She liked the thrill of it all.

I slipped three one hundred dollar bills between the spokes of the wheel on the remaining bike and hoped the kids came back to find it soon. We pedaled off down the road we'd come down hours before, and I was grateful for the sun's absence. I was in great physical shape, but the last time I'd rode a bike was when Lissa's parents bought her a new one and got me one to match. We'd rode our bikes everywhere that summer, and I hadn't touched one since.

I was beginning to grow concerned for Jill. I don't know if the stress of recent events and everything I'd told her was weighing her down, but she began to worry me. She laughed almost non-stop on the bike ride back to court, thrilled with the adrenaline from both the theft and from sitting on the handlebars. I didn't know Jill's every thought, but it was scary that she was so pleased with what we'd done, particularly since I was so displeased with our actions. We'd stolen from a couple of kids. That just wasn't one of those things that sat well with you.

Because of Jill's added weight on the bike, Christian went slower than I did. I didn't have the time, but I was fairly certain the bike ride back took about an hour and a half. When we were notably close to the court, we stopped right in the middle of the road. My butt was aching from the seat, and we needed to figure out what we were doing from here out anyways. I ditched the bike on the side of the road and returned to Christian and Jill. Of course, standing in the road is never a bright idea, but I didn't think much of it considering people very seldom came in and out of the Court's gates. These roads were more or less abandoned. That's why I was all the more surprised when a black SUV came speeding down the road. I saw it, and I realized I should move, but it was one of those moments where you just lock up in surprise. My life was starting to flash before my eyes. The vehicle came screeching to a stop, and I looked through the windshield to see who had been driving like a bat out of hell. The man got out and stormed to the front of his car. My heart had already stopped beating, but it stopped again as Dimitri grabbed me by the arms and shook me.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

**a/n: Ok, I sincerely apologize. I pretty much hit a wall, and I could not bring myself to like anything I wrote for this chapter the past two days. That's why it took so long to get out. It didn't help that I started working on it and it got deleted, and then I lost my motivation. lol. And my laptop is broke, requiring me to sit in this chair to type. It makes my butt hurt [I think my subconscious was manifesting itself in Rose when she decided to get off the bike ;)]. That said, I'm thinking this is substandard, but I'm looking forward to the next couple of chapters. This was one of those irritating, but totally necessary filler chapters. It had to be done. So hang in there my people. And for all my Adrian lovers, you may want to check out the one shot I wrote called Dimitrilike, because it was so much fun to write and I think it's hysterical. Then again, maybe you guys are just giving me a big head with all of your wonderful, amazing, motivating reviews! Keep up the hard work, mis amigos! Love, BelleCeline.**


	26. Chapter 26

My body was still frozen from thinking I was about to stand there helplessly and get run over. I was trying to be smart, to come up with something to say, but it just wasn't working. Instead, I stepped out of Dimitri's reach, forcing his hands to fall from my shoulders. "Don't touch me like that." I hissed, crossing my arms. Dimitri's eyes flashed with anger, and then he realized what he'd done. His eyes shifted to something more mellow, even if it was forced, and I felt a little better. It's not that I was scared of him. I just really didn't like his hostility, seeing as I'd always been the one to show any signs of hostility between us. It just served as a mark of how much things have changed between the two of us.

"Where have you been?" He was forcing his voice down from that yell. His words were coming out instead as a deep, guttural growl, the Russian accent all the more pronounced.

"Joy ride." I smiled. I liked provoking him; I always had.

"Do you know how lucky you are that nobody noticed you were gone? If you'd been caught out of court, you'd-"

"I'd what? Be charged with contempt? Threatening." I could hear the malice in my own voice. "Do you not see that I have nothing to lose?" Dimitri's face hardened, and he shut me out. He looked at Christian and Jill.

"Get in the car." He said quietly. "I just came from there. They'll let us back in."

Christian and Jill left their bike on the side of the road. I moved on some kind of instinct to open the passenger side door, but Dimitri stopped me. "No." He said. "Get in the back." I was really offended by that for a moment, and I clambered into the back with Jill while Christian sat next to Dimitri. It was only a two or three minute drive to the gates, but every second of it passed in silence until we reached the gates and Dimitri rolled down the window to speak to the guards there.

Dimitri held up a cell phone. "They called to cancel. Go figure."

The guard grinned. "Those big guys in the office don't know what they're doing." He agreed. "Go on through." Dimitri put up a hand to show his gratitude, and just like that we were through. They were definitely right that the guardians must not have known what they were doing if these idiots were charged with overseeing the gates. I wasn't going to argue that I'd been let out and in without incident, but if the guards were always like that, then the security we heard so much about at the court was a talked-up rumor.

"Thanks for the ride." Christian said awkwardly as he got out of the car. Jill was very clearly intimidated by him; she mumbled thanks as she jumped out of the car and then took a couple of steps away.

"Thanks, comrade." I said dryly. It had been a while since I'd called him that. Saying it felt strange, foreign. I turned with Jill and Christian in the direction of Lissa's room. Dimitri stopped me with a single word.

"Rose?" I turned around and looked at him, trying to push away all of the snide remarks I wanted to make. I knew we were going to have a real conversation now. I turned to Christian.

"Go on without me. Jill, you can find something of Lissa's to wear tonight, and stay in Lissa's room. I'll be there soon. This won't take long."

Jill was watching me in awe, but she nodded and followed Christian away. I stood a good three feet away from Dimitri, my arms across my chest in an unwelcome gesture. He wasn't to be swayed by that. He closed the distance between us in a few strides, but he was not inappropriately close. Just a respectful distance.

"Why did you leave?" He looked hurt by my choice. I don't see how that could have hurt him, but I decided not to judge him for it. At least, not too much.

"I was gone for maybe twelve hours." I said, exasperated. "If that."

"Do you think that matters to the royal court? You left. They won't care about your reasons for doing it."

"So why do you care?"

"I'm not the royal court. I'm your friend."

"My friend?" The word sounded hollow and fragile.

"You know I care about you."

"Like a friend?" I asked. "Or do you want something more?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Bullshit, it doesn't matter!" I said vehemently. "You're going in circles, Dimitri! Maybe you can't see it, but I can. And I am not playing your little game anymore. He loves me, he loves me not. It's a joke to you." I had been telling myself to keep a lid on my emotions. But keeping this stuff on a leash wasn't going to make it go away, or make him see the light.

"I told you how I felt." He was speaking softly, because he knew it was true that he'd been playing both hot and cold.

"And you meant it?"

"I wouldn't lie to you." I looked into his eyes, seeing his open and honest sincerity in them.

"Unless it was for my own good?" Dimitri looked confused. "You told me in the church that love fades, which is true I suppose. But you told me your love faded. So you lied then, or you're lying now."

Dimitri closed his eyes, and I could see him fighting the remorse he felt about that. "It was for your benefit."

I nodded. "And now?"

"Now things are different." I knew the moment when it changed. When the queen's guards had come for me, he'd been ready to fight them off tooth and nail. I had known then that he cared about me, whether it was in a way of love or a manner of his guardian instincts.

"Now I'm going to die." I had said it before, but I'd said it with more conviction this time. It had hit me before, but now it was really starting to drive home. I had five days left until my trial, and I had come absolutely no closer to proving that I was innocent. My life was in the hands of Lissa, Adrian, and Eddie. I trusted them with everything in my heart, but I just didn't see how they could possibly be helping me. Dimitri stood stock still, and his resolve dropped. He wrapped me in his arms, and I felt safe and secure, like nothing in the world could touch me. And nothing from this world did touch me. However, something from another world did. I turned around at the brush of cool air on my neck. My heart nearly stopped when I saw the ghost before me, her imperious face pale and yet still regal. I turned, letting go of Dimitri, and looked into the haunted eyes of the late Queen.

I had learned from my past experiences with Mason that ghosts remained on Earth when they died at a young age or in a violent manner. Tatiana had not been young, but she certainly had died violently. Having that knowledge made me sure I wasn't crazy. The queen's ghost really was before me, but that didn't make things any less shocking. I stared at her, feeling the hair on the back of my neck stand up, goose bumps popping up on my arms. I forgot Dimitri's presence until he spoke. "Rose? Are you ok?"

I only looked at him out of the corner of my eye, scared that if I removed my gaze from Tatiana she would disappear. "I'm fine. Can I be alone for a moment? I'll come find you later, but right now I really need some time."

There was a pause, but he agreed. "Ok. Be careful out here alone." I forced a smile, which was like one quarter genuine. I wanted to tell him I wasn't alone, but not yet. Although, I don't suppose that would matter, since he'd seen the ghosts the night I'd tried to kill him. I had called upon them to distract him. He still might not know that I had done that, though, and for now my undivided attention was for the queen. I recalled how Mason had not been capable of speech when I'd first seen his ghost. I hope that wasn't the same with Tatiana, cause I had a lot of questions for her.

"You found her." Tatiana's smile was calm and soft. She was the picture of serenity, although I don't know how she could have been peaceful since she was dead. Not just dead…murdered.

"You helped a little." I swallowed, thinking of the note.

"I made the right decision in trusting you with that information, Guardian Hathaway." For some reason, hearing the queen's ghost use my title struck me as odd. But dead or alive, she was still royalty, and she managed herself accordingly. Besides, we'd never been on a first-name basis.

"So you know I didn't kill you?"

Tatiana's face turned, showing a true smile. "Of course. After death, knowledge floats. You know the answers to any question you could possibly have."

"Then maybe you can help me out. Who killed you?" To my surprise, she shook her head.

"There are limits to the things we can say. It is fortunate I can speak to you at all. I know the last time you met a ghost, he couldn't talk back."

That really creeped me out, hearing her talk about my encounter with Mason's ghost, but she _had_ said that she could know anything she possibly wanted. "I think you can make an exception."

"There are no exceptions. We are bound, capable of saying some things and unable to address other issues."

I was getting angry. If she wasn't going to tell me who killed her, why had she bothered coming at all? I was hardly the person who would have wanted a social visit from her, alive or dead. "That's great. Well, have a nice afterlife then! I'll probably see you around in a week. And then we'll have all eternity to talk, and you can tell me all about how you died! Til then…" I made to walk away, but Tatiana moved gracefully in my path.

"You aren't going to die. I'm here to help you."

"So help me!" I yelled. I was grateful there was nobody around, because I surely would have been locked up in a mental institution if anybody could hear my conversation with the queen. Or, as it would appear to an outsider, myself.

The queen was still smiling, a picture of infinitesimal patience. I really wanted to hit her and knock that smile off her ghostly face, but that wouldn't do any bit of good, and so I settled with glaring at her, as if this were all her fault. "As I said, there are limits to what knowledge I can give you."

"Tell me anything you can." I pleaded.

"Appearance does not always reflect reality. People can make themselves masters of deception. Your job in all of this is to whittle out what is truth from what is lie."

"I'd figured that already, thanks."

"Look deeper than the surface. Don't trust blindly, but consider everything from every possible angle. Everybody has a motive." She paused, then elaborated. "Everybody. Even you."

"I didn't kill you!" I hissed.

"I know you didn't. But you have a reason to. Remember, it is not always the person who stands to gain the most from my absence. There are many forces at play, and you should rule out none."

"Can I say some names and you can tell me if I'm hot or cold?"

"I could not if I wanted to. Don't scratch the surface, Rose. Dig deep for your answers and you will find them."

I was tired of this conversation. I'd thought enough about this whole situation. I wanted to turn my brain off for a while. "Was it Victor?"

Her face showed absolutely no inflection. I didn't know whether that could be construed as an affirmative or a negative. "The lines between your friends and your enemies are blurred. People you trust, you should not, and people you fear you should consider as allies."

"So Victor didn't do it?"

"The lines are already blurred, Guardian Hathaway. Don't be afraid to blur them some more."

"I really have no idea what you're saying."

"I'm saying you have all the information you need to clear your name. You only have to think to use it."

"You're really pissing me off." I frowned, and she returned it with that God-damned smile.

"I was right to trust you. You can conquer them."

"Conquer who?" I asked. But I received no answer, because she was gone. 

**a/n: I got really excited writing this chapter for some reason. I was just glad to get Rose to be concerned a little more with her own future. She was being so passive about it, not doing anything to protect herself. Now that finding the Last Dragomir is out of the way, she can take care of herself finally! Yay for fighting for your freedom! Ok, tell me your thoughts. I'm so excited I broke two hundred, but I want to push for more, more, MORE! Lol. I typed this chapter in like, an hour, cause I was so motivated to give you guys more to read! So do your thing and press that button (mine's blue, but everyone else says it's green) and you will get even more coming your way as soon as possible. :) Love you all!**


	27. Chapter 27

The Zeklos' lived on the side of the court's grounds where all the Royals lived. The families, for the most part, lived all close together. Typically the eldest of each family were the ones who actually lived at the court, as they were involved with political affairs more than the rest of their families. The thirteen families lived in close proximity, with a nice space in between, but you could tell that they were all lumped together onto the same plot of land. They had their own private corner of the court's grounds, but I don't think I would want to live so close to all the other royals. In fact, Jesse's house was not at all very far from the Ivashkov's.

I felt bad that I hadn't gone to find Dimitri the way I'd promised, but after my conversation with the queen's ghost, I was feeling irritable and I didn't want to chance saying something that would ruin the calm we'd established between us. I really didn't want to go to the party, but Jill's excitement was growing by the minute. I knew that she had been to a royal party once before, because she had gone with Avery, Lissa, and Adrian when I'd been in Russia. Jill had seen Lissa kissing her ex-boyfriend Aaron, and she'd been so disappointed with her that she more or less tipped Christian off. That had been what made Lissa so resentful when her and Christian were broken up, and she'd been paranoid about Christian's training sessions with Jill and Mia. This time, Jill didn't have to baby-sit anybody. In fact, we would be babysitting her, so she could do as she pleased. I wanted her to have a good time, seeing as it was her birthday, and so I sucked up my complaints and took her.

As we approached the house, it was obvious there was a party in full swing, not that Jesse would have bothered to hide it. While our laws stipulating drinking age and underage consumption of alcohol were the same as the human's laws, ours were more like guidelines. Nobody ever enforced any punishment for underage drinking, particularly not for the royals, and so parties were abundant at court. I blame that lifestyle for all of Adrian's drinking. Well, that and the spirit thing too. But growing up here where there was always a party within a ten foot radius had to have played a pretty big role in his alcoholism too. I thought vaguely about what Emily had said about how she hadn't wanted a court life for her daughter. Now that I thought about it, it really didn't seem selfish…it made sense.

The front door was open, and so we made no move to wait until somebody noticed our presence. We went right in and scanned the room for anybody that we would know. It was weird being at a party and knowing that I wouldn't see Adrian or Lissa, or even Mia. Christian didn't seem to find any of it awkward, though. He went right to the kitchen and brought back two drinks. He handed one to Jill and tried to pass the other to me, but I refused it. "No drink for Rose?" He toyed.

"No thanks. I've got a Dragomir to protect." Jill gave me a half-smile at that and raised her drink to her lips tentatively. I don't know what she was drinking, but she drank it like a pro. I think there wasn't a lot in there, because she knocked it back like an expert and set the cup down on the stand. She turned pink when she saw the surprised looks Christian and I were giving her.

"What?" She asked, embarrassed. I laughed.

"Impressive." Christian admitted, handing Jill the cup he'd intended for me. She drank that one too, and then set the cups together.

"Nicely done. Who's the new girl?" I turned around to see who was speaking, and saw Jesse with his arm around a blonde girl. They both had drinks in their hand, and it was hard to tell who was leaning on whom.

I was going to answer for Jill, seeing as she was so timid, but she must have felt empowered, because she answered for herself. "I'm Jill."

"Jill?" He smirked. "That's cute." Jill was watching him shrewdly. She smiled, but it was something of a mix between a real smile and a smirk.

"I know." I looked at Christian, surprised by Jill's cheek. I certainly hadn't expected a saucy comment like that from her, but I was certainly proud she'd stood her ground. Jesse raised one eyebrow, looking at her quizzically. He opened his mouth to say something, but then his eyes shifted to me. He looked as if somebody had just given him a Christmas gift.

"Rose Hathaway. Delightful to see you."

"Jesse." I said warily. The girl on his arm looked really irritated, and I hoped she didn't know about my past with Jesse. Then again, practically everyone I'd graduated with had known, so it couldn't matter too much.

"Shouldn't you be with your Dragomir?" He asked haughtily. People were turning to look at us.

"My night off."

"But Lissa loves a good party. Why didn't you bring her?"

"She's sick." That was the excuse Lissa had told me to use, the reason why nobody would see her for a week and half.

"That's a shame. I remember the last party at court. She was a good dancer. Somehow my table just won't look the same without her." Both Jill and I knew he was referring to how she had danced on the table, compelled by Avery and drunk enough to fall for it. Christian hadn't been aware of that, I was pretty sure, because he was looking at Jesse in confusion and anger.

"There's plenty more parties to come." I said, trying to switch subjects so that Christian wouldn't dwell on that.

"You're right." Jesse smiled. "Except not for you." He shrugged off the growth on his arm, which the girl didn't look very happy about, and came closer to me. "One week to trial, Rose. Think you're gonna get off Scott-free? You're as good as condemned."

I smiled at him. He wanted me to blow up on him, so that everybody could see just how unstable I was. He wanted me to lose my temper, threaten him, maybe even knock him around a bit. Jesse wanted a reaction from me. But I wasn't going to give him what he wanted, no way in hell. I took his drink from his hand and knocked it back just the way Jill had. I could feel the burn, which told me it must be some kind of vodka, but I downed it all in one quick, fluid motion and handed the cup back to him. The after-effects were burning my throat, and I could feel it in my nose. It wasn't a typical liquor, but it seemed faintly familiar. "You're right. This could be my last party. Let's act accordingly." I winked at him. "Go get me another drink."

Jesse's smile was almost disbelieving, as well it should have been. "Alright. Since it's your last. Might as well go out with a bang."

"My thoughts exactly." I said, just before Jesse scurried out of the room. Christian looked after him with a look that probably could have set Jesse on fire.

"What was he talking about? Lissa dancing on tables?"

"It was nothing." I assured him. "When Avery was controlling Lissa, you know how she did all that reckless stuff? Well, that was another thing Avery made her do."

Christian's jaw was a rigid line, set in anger and defiance. "I can't believe her."

"It's not Lissa's fault." I said quickly. The last thing I wanted was for another argument to form between the two of them, particularly since they were so far away from each other.

"I know it's not. It's Avery's fault, and if I ever see her again, I'm going to make sure she knows it."

I scoffed. "She's crazy, in case you've forgotten. Her mind is gone. You can't exactly threaten a mental patient. It's just not right."

"Yeah, well, as long as she stays locked up, I guess I won't go looking for her."

I shook my head at Christian, and Jill concealed a small smile. "Hey," I whispered to Jill, catching a glimpse of Jesse moving around in the kitchen. Through the crowd of party-goers I caught a glimpse of his ostentatious red button up. "Don't drink anything Jesse gives you."

Jill looked a little pale as she meekly asked me why not. "He won't drug you. But he makes really strong drinks designed to get you drunk off your ass after two. You don't want to drink one and be done."

"Point taken." Jill said thoughtfully. Jesse returned just then with two drinks; one for Jill, and the other for me. I thanked him, and Jill hesitantly did the same.

"So…" Jesse began, looking at Jill, intrigued. "Jill. Just Jill?"

"Jillian Evelynne."

"Is Evelynne your middle name?"

"Yes."

"Don't you have a last name?"

"Of course I do." Jill smiled. I knew he was wondering whether or not she was of Royal status. If she was, then he would be free to make a move. If not, he wouldn't bother continuing the conversation.

"What is it?"

I looked at Jill cautiously. I hadn't really thought about what we would say to everybody about her father. She was going to cause controversy, but she needed to be known eventually anyways. I wasn't sure if this was the best way for everybody to figure it out, but I was going to leave that to Jill's discretion. It was her future, and though Lissa, Christian, and I were muddled up and mixed into it, she was really the only one who could make the decision whether or not to tell him.

"Wouldn't you like to know." Jill teased. I didn't know whether to be proud of her for keeping her cool and maintaining a level head in Jesse's presence, or to be revolted that she was flirting with him. I decided to be. Jesse was pretty scummy, but Jill was, by my estimation, smart enough not to get too intrigued with him.

"I would, actually. Is it a royal last name?"

"Maybe. Then again, maybe not."

"I think it is." Jesse was smiling, his voice full of relish. Little Jill had captured the attention of Jesse Zeklos. I looked at Christian, but he wasn't paying any attention. His fists were at his sides, and I think he was still brooding about Jesse's remarks over Lissa's table-dancing stint.

"What makes you think that?"

"Cause you got my attention. And a couple of other people's too." Jill turned to look around and see what he meant. I hadn't really noticed, but there were people around watching them.

"What are you talking about?" Jill asked, genuinely oblivious.

"Nothing. How about we play a game?"

Jill looked wary of that suggestion, and Jesse only laughed by way of response. I couldn't help myself; I found this exchange to be entirely comical. Maybe it was the after-effects of whatever I had drank. But I liked feeling like this, like all my problems from the real world would disappear. Without much thought, I drank the second cup of liquor and sat on the arm of the couch to watch them continuing to court each other.

"What kind of game?" Jill was asking, too intrigued to immediately shut him down.

"I'll guess names of people I know, and you can tell me if you're from that family."

Jill examined him shrewdly, sizing him up. "Ok." She agreed.

"I know you're not a Zeklos."

"How do you know? Maybe you're hitting on your cousin right now?" I made it a point to commend Jill on that line later.

"I'm closer to my family then you might think." He didn't deny that he was hitting on her. "You don't have those trademark Ozera eyes. But are you an Ozera?"

"Not at all." Jill smiled, flashing her brilliant teeth. She was growing confident, and it was causing her beauty to shine through in a way that I had never seen. She was most certainly Lissa's sister, I decided. They both shared that luminescent presence, like if they left the world would get cold and dark.

"Course not." Jesse agreed with a smile of his own. "Those eyes. A beautiful green…an Ivashkov?"

Jill shook her head. He certainly wasn't going to be guessing that she was a Dragomir. It was common knowledge that Lissa was the last in her line, and so this was prime entertainment for Jill. She was going to win at this game. I looked away from their conversation and my eyes fell upon somebody watching me. I did a double take, and then noticed it was Ambrose. I stood up, grabbing the cup that Jill had abandoned. I walked up to Ambrose and drank that one too.

"Hey Rose." He smiled, but it wasn't the welcoming smile I'd come to expect from him. He was still looking back to where I'd been sitting. I followed his gaze and saw Jill laughing at something Jesse had said. I hadn't really noticed the music before now, even though it had been so loud when we'd first come in. I tried to catch what they were saying over there, but the pumping music combined with the chatter of people around us drowned out their words.

"He likes her." I said, happily. Maybe that wasn't something to be happy about, but I couldn't help it. Jesse was everything Jill was not. He was arrogant and obsessed with status. Jill was a friend to everybody and anybody, and she didn't even realize how pretty she was.

"Yeah." Ambrose agreed. "She's the last Dragomir, isn't she?"

I turned to look at Ambrose in surprise. "How'd you know that?"

"She came from nowhere." He reasoned, as if I was stupid for not putting two and two together. "You left to bring her back, just like the queen asked."

"How do you know I left?" I was trying to make it seem like he was wrong, like I'd never once stepped out of the sanctioned court boundaries.

"I have my sources." His mouth twitched, but he wasn't smiling.

"Who all knows I left?" I asked, panicked.

"Only a few people. Don't worry, nobody that's going to tell the high court."

"Wonderful." I muttered. I'd thought Dimitri was the only person who knew. But somebody else had apparently noted my absence.

"Things are getting bad, Rose." Ambrose whispered. I turned to look at him, concerned. "People are getting crazy, and it's only going to get worse. It's a scary world we're living in."

His sudden honesty and inexplicable fear was a mystery to me, but he had a fair point. Things were pretty screwed up right now. "I saw the queen's ghost." I told him suddenly. Ambrose looked surprised, but not weirded out. I suppose when your aunt tells fortunes for a living, you wouldn't think it impossible to see ghosts.

"What did she have to say?"

"Nothing useful. She told me I didn't know my friends from my enemies."

Ambrose looked at me with a soft smile turning up the corners of his mouth. "And do you?"

"Yeah." I said, quickly. "Of course I do. Unless you know something I don't."

"No. I just think we would all be wise to evaluate where we stand in the world." He blinked away the hollow look in his eyes and turned to me. "I'm sorry about Mia. Tasha told me everything."

"Tasha told you? Tasha Ozera?"

"Yeah. She was really upset."

"I wasn't aware that you even knew Tasha." I shrugged.

"I know everybody." He grinned, a pretty fair claim. He worked all over the court's grounds. He had to know everybody's business. If I needed some gossip, he would be my first choice.

"She really liked you, you know." I told him, recalling how Mia had looked at him, starry-eyed.

"She was nice." He said distantly.

I laughed. "She wasn't always that way. We used to hate each other, but she grew up. I actually considered her a good friend."

"That's the thing about people. They can make you trust them even when you shouldn't."

I frowned at him. "Are you saying I shouldn't have trusted Mia?" Ambrose was quiet a moment, and then he seemed to realize I'd asked him something.

"Huh? Oh, no." He looked around the room. "I have to go for now, but do me a favor? Be careful."

I laughed. "Ok." His words were more or less cryptic, but I was in that translucent state from Jesse's drinks. I made my way back to the couch. Jill and Jesse were still laughing and talking, but I didn't see Christian anywhere. He was big enough to take care of himself, I decided. Right now, I had to check in on Lissa.

**a/n: hope you liked it :) i love when the chapters are fun to write. like this one, because i love jill, and i really wanted her to start to come out of her shell a little. she's going to have to start being more assertive and confident if she's going to take her place in the royal court, so i figured now was as good a time as any to get started. i've written to chapter 29 already, so if you guys impress me with all your hard work, i might be able to get twenty eight up for you tonight. it still needs editing, but it's a nice reprieve from what's been going on in the U.S. ok, tell me your thoughts. i'm off to work :( [i feel bipolar with the happy and sad smiley faces]! much love,**

**belleceline**


	28. Chapter 28

I've always thought it kind of funny how you can forget important things, like the answers to a really important test. And in place of forgetting the important things, you remember stupid, trivial things. I had been to Russia once, and while I had been there for a while, I had only stayed with the Belikov's for a little portion of my excursion. I had been in their backyard only once, for Dimitri's memorial service, and yet as I snapped into Lissa's head, I immediately knew where she was. She sat on the Belikov's back porch, staring out at the sun that was sinking into the distance. Though the time difference between the U.S. and Russia was no less than fourteen hours, Lissa and I were both kind of on the same page when it came to our messed up schedules. Dimitri's family ran on a schedule that I would liken to a human's rather than a moroi's. But Lissa, Adrian, and Abe were also going out nights where other moroi were concerned, and so Lissa was addled from a lack of schedule.

I wished I could let her know I was right there with her, because I felt like it had been ages since I'd talked to my own best friend. I wasn't able to tell her about Damon, and I wasn't able to tell her about Mia. She didn't know anything about her father being led astray, or about how she had a half sibling. For that matter, she didn't know Jill was her half-sister. Everything she'd heard even concerning me for the past two days had been through Adrian, which was like playing a game of telephone. While Adrian didn't mess up all of the details, it still didn't have the same effect coming through a third party. And the thing that hurt Lissa the most was Mia.

I could hear her thoughts, practically feel her mind turning itself over and over, like an engine that just won't start. She kept thinking that if she'd been there, if she'd been at court, she could have brought Mia back. She would have been able to save her. But at the same time, Lissa knew that her role here was important. The information they were gathering was crucial to something. I don't think Lissa was consciously keeping facts from me, but somehow I was still not getting the full side of the story. I had no idea what they were doing, apart from playing with spirit.

Lissa was toying with a blade of grass, running it through her fingers absently. She was happy to be proactive, to stand up and do something for once. Lissa had always felt like she was hiding behind me. Though it had hurt like hell, my absence months ago had caused her to grow stronger. Of course, she had been led astray by Avery, but once we had realized what Avery was attempting to involve her in, it was clear that Lissa had to fight her own battle. I wasn't there to punch Reed in the face, although I really would have wanted to, and so I had to direct Lissa to do it herself. In a way, that had been her first guided step. Her second had been withholding information from me so that she could save Dimitri on her own. And this…this was her real first independent act. Adrian and Eddie were with her, sure, but she was holding her own ground, standing up for me.

And yet, as happy as she was to be helping, she felt a longing for the typical, predictable life of court. She wanted to be back at my side, back in Christian's arms. She missed my abrasive humor, and she missed Christian's touch, his kiss. I really didn't want to think about the things she and Christian did when they were alone, and I considered removing myself from her head right at that moment. Thankfully, I was spared any illicit scenes out of a two dollar romance novel, because Adrian sat down next to Lissa, drawing her thoughts back to Russia.

"Your aura is all like electricity." He said, looking at her with a smile. "It's got flashes of blue in it."

Lissa smiled back. "What does that mean?"

"No idea. But it's pretty." Lissa laughed and dropped the blade of grass she'd been playing with.

"Are we really helping her? I mean, do you think this is worth it or are we wasting valuable time?" Adrian looked surprised that Lissa was asking him that question.

"We're helping a lot more than we could if we were there." He reasoned. "There was a slight chance we might be able to help, and we took it. But I definitely don't think it's a waste of time, even if it does suck being away."

Lissa sighed. "I hope you're right. I can't lose her." Lissa looked down at the ground, and I could feel her tears threatening.

"Neither could I." Adrian whispered. "But hey, look on the bright side. If we mess up and she gets the axe, we could always bring her back. Between the two of us, she'll just be shadow kissed again." Lissa laughed to humor him, because she knew it was what he expected. But by the look on Adrian's face, she could tell that he hadn't really thought before he'd said that. It was an insensitive thing to say, even if I didn't take any offense by it. "What's it like?"

Lissa was caught off guard by the question. "What do you mean?"

Adrian looked sort of embarrassed. "Being bonded to her." Lissa turned to look at him, and she laughed.

"That's the kind of question she could answer better. For me, it just feels normal. We were always close, so it's really nothing out of the ordinary to me. I can't feel her in my head, and I don't even know when she's there."

Adrian thought about that for a moment. "But you saved her from the dead. I mean, you didn't know what you were doing, but you brought somebody back from beyond this world. Doesn't that make you feel…I don't know, different?"

"It makes me grateful. You and I both know that spirit has some unpleasant side effects-"

"You could say that again." Adrian said. Right about now was when he would usually reach for his pocket for a cigarette. But he didn't move, I noted, impressed. I figured since he was free of me, he'd be taking every chance he got for a cigarette break.

"But I wouldn't change it. She is the only person that kept me grounded after the accident. I probably wouldn't be alive if she wasn't."

Adrian frowned. "But what about Christian?"

"I love Christian," Lissa smiled. "With everything I have. But if Rose hadn't come back, if I hadn't saved her, I don't know if I would have ever made it to meet Christian." She sighed, and I could feel the honesty of the conversation making her open her heart. She and Adrian were close, but there were things he didn't know about her. "You know how you deal with spirit?"

"Used to deal with it." Adrian corrected. Lissa smiled, and I was curious as to what they were talking about, so I pushed for a little detail. Adrian hadn't been allowed to take his cigarettes on the plane. He'd gone four days without them, and he was planning on kicking them altogether. I wondered why he hadn't mentioned that to me before.

"Right, how you _used_ to deal with it. You would drink and smoke, and that would make things better for you?"

"I remember."

"Well I had my own methods." She held her arm out to him, the bottom facing up. The scars there were faint by now, but they were still there. I had never really thought about that. I just assumed she would have healed them away, for a fresh start or something. Adrian's face looked a little sick, which was not all that funny in light of the conversation they were having, but it was ironic to think that the idea scared him so much. He reached out a hand for her wrist, and I didn't need to be bonded to him to figure out his intent. Apparently, neither did Lissa. She pulled her arm out of his reach and shook her head. "I like the reminder."

Adrian's face was furrowed in confusion. "When did you do that?"

"I quit about two years ago."

His face reflected his shock. "Why are they still there?"

"Like I said, I like the reminder."

Adrian was silent a moment. "How'd you stop?"

Lissa shrugged. "Rose hated it. It scared her. When we finally understood what was going on, when we understood spirit, I had some of the answers I'd needed. I didn't need to hide how it made me feel anymore, because Rose knew too. Not to mention, I could see how much he hated it. I kind of quit for her behalf, I guess." Adrian nodded. He could imagine what she meant.

"Just like I quit cigarettes for her. I feel pretty good, but I'll never let her know that. She's already got too much of a hold on me." Lissa found that hysterical, and I'll admit, it was pretty funny because the joke was on him. he'd more or less just admitted that to me.

The door behind them slid open and there stood a girl I had never seen before. And yet, I felt an immediate dislike for her. She was beautiful, and something about the way Adrian looked at her sparked jealousy within me. She was tall and thin with long, thick hair. But her eyes were her treasure, because they were very seductive. I tried to brush off my jealousy, since it was stupid, considering I was really playing the fence with Adrian and Dimitri. And yet…

"Olena has asked a favor of us. She wants us to go into the village for more produce. She wasn't expecting so much company for dinner, but she's thrilled." I noted her accent. It wasn't Russian, per se, but it was close.

"Is it going to take all three of us?" Adrian asked doubtfully, and I felt inexplicably smug over that. Score One, Rose Hathaway.

The girl just laughed. "Have you seen all the people in there? Her shopping list is about three feet long."

Lissa smiled at her. "We'll be right in Katia." The girl shut the door, understanding she'd been dismissed.

"I don't like her." Adrian said, standing up and offering Lissa a hand. Lissa grinned.

"Cause she reminds you of Rose?"

"Not at all. Rose is much prettier. There's just something about her that doesn't sit right with me."

"Probably the fact that she's crazier than you. You take it as a personal offense. Come on, Olena needs her shopping done." I hadn't noticed Katia to be crazy, but if she was then I could quit the jealousy. I could tell from Lissa's thoughts that she really liked the girl.

Katia had been right about there being a lot of people in the house. It was a modest home, and it already housed a decent sized family. Yeva, Olena, Paul, Sonya, Karolina, and Viktoria already lived there. On top of that, Lissa, Adrian, and Eddie were staying in Dimitri's old room. I didn't know if all the people in the house were staying there, which didn't seem at all possible, but it appeared to be standing room only in the Belikov home. I scanned the room for a glimpse of Viktoria, but I didn't see her through all the people. I had been really close to her when I'd stayed with them in Russia, and things hadn't ended between us on a good note. I wanted to know how she was.

Lissa and Adrian pushed their way through the crowd and made it out the front door. I could feel Lissa's joy at being free of the mass chaos in the house. Though the people inside were helping them, they could be over-bearing. Everybody wanted to know something about everybody else. Some people could walk dreams, others could heal, and some claimed they could see the future. I realized that most of the people in the house were spirit users. Katia was among them.

She smiled when they found her in front of the house and handed them each a little wicker basket. It was really a funny image, the three of them. Adrian stood in the middle, flanked by the fair Lissa on one side and the dark-haired Katia on the other. I noticed that they didn't have a guardian with them. I would have to give Adrian hell about that later, because I couldn't do anything about it at the moment. They set off into town with the baskets, and I tried not to laugh hysterically. It was all the more comical, because Katia was indeed insane. She skipped down the streets rather than walk, the basket swinging back and forth in her hand. Adrian shook his head, but Lissa laughed.

"She's lucky to be care free like that."

Adrian shrugged, watching her. Katia ran to the side of the road and fell to her knees before a patch of flowers. They were withered and brown, dead from the deficit of rain that Russia had apparently been going through. But they didn't stay that way for long, because as Katia ran her fingertips over them, they burst to life, blossoming from the inside, a bright red spreading over them. She stood up and cocked her head, admiring her handiwork. "Magnificent." She remarked, her voice a breathy, wistful sigh.

At the market, I realized Katia had been right. Olena was in need of _a lot _of vegetables. They loaded up their baskets and paid the vendors, who looked pleased with their business, and set off back down the road. The sun was gone by the time they made it back to the Belikov house, but things were just beginning to get interesting there. Katia insisted on helping Olena with washing the vegetables for the stew, but Olena refused her. Katia ignored her dismissal and grabbed some carrots, wielding a knife like an expert. Lissa watched, amused, as she chopped off the stems and began to dice them.

"I have this under control." She assured Lissa. Lissa smiled, and her and Adrian retreated into the living room. There was lots of chatter around them, but they did their best to find a seat out of the chaos. They planted themselves on the steps, where they were slightly removed from the rest of the confusion milling around them.

"Where's Abe?" Lissa asked, scanning the crowd of people below. Adrian shrugged, uninterested.

"Off breaking someone's kneecaps, probably."

Lissa laughed, and I noticed that neither my mother nor Eddie were around either. "I hope he's not harassing Pierre again."

"Hey," Adrian said in a reasoning tone. "Pierre could really be of use to us if he was willing to help. He's too damn superstitious to help somebody he's never met before."

Lissa didn't bother arguing with him. She could feel the presence of somebody else around them and she turned to see Viktoria standing at the top of the steps with a baby in her arms. Lissa stood up with a smile on her face and climbed the steps to where Viktoria stood. I could feel her excitement at seeing Sonya's baby again. Viktoria handed the baby to her wordlessly, and Lissa held her as close to her as she could manage. "I think you've grown since just yesterday, Rose." She mused. I paused, confused. My mind stopped, and I hit rewind. I realized that she had called the baby Rose. Through Lissa's eyes I peered down at the baby, and though I'd never really considered myself to be good with children, I felt my walls coming down. Sonya's daughter was so sweet, swaddled up in Lissa's arms, and I smiled. Through Lissa's thoughts, I realized they had named her Rozalia, a variation on my name. They would call her Rose, however, in my honor.

It made me feel a little silly, to think that I had a namesake. Sonya and I hadn't even been as close as Viktoria and I had. But I realized it was Paul who had wanted to name her Rose. Yeva had agreed, and Olena had been proud of the decision. They felt they owed me a great debt for loving their son, and for finding them to tell them when he was gone. And now that he was back from the dead, they were all the more steadfast in their decision. I felt Lissa's joy coursing through me from her holding the baby, and I knew that she wanted one. I didn't know whether I should warn Christian about that or not.

When Lissa looked up at Viktoria, I was pleased with what I saw. Viktoria looked exceptional. She was radiant, her face alight with happiness. From what I could see of her neck, there were no marks there. I guess after Abe's people had threatened Viktoria's last suitor, word must have spread to stay clear of the girl's path. I wondered how she could be happy if nobody would go near her cause they were scared of someone she didn't even really know. A moment later I had my answer. Nikolai came to stand behind her, and her face lit up with a different joy. That came as a shock to me. It had been months since I had left them, but Viktoria had made it exceedingly clear that she wasn't interested in Nikolai as anything more than a friend. I wondered what had changed.

"You must hate all of this." Lissa said to the baby, her voice soft and cooing. But she meant it for Viktoria too. Viktoria smiled.

"I kind of like it. I always wanted a big family."

Adrian laughed. "This isn't big enough? You have two sisters and a brother."

"It's not that big." She mused. "How big is your family?"

"It's just me." Lissa said. I wasn't sure how well she did at keeping her emotions off her face, but I could feel the sorrow in her. "My brother died in an accident with my parents."

Viktoria looked like she wanted to cry, but I was glad she didn't apologize. I always hated when people said "I'm sorry" after you told them about someone dying. I always got mad and would tell Lissa that was a stupid thing to say, cause they hadn't killed them. Lissa said people apologized for bringing it up, but either way, I don't think you should apologize over that sort of thing. "Well, either way, I love having all of you here. I'm glad that what you guys are doing is helping Rose."

Adrian laughed. "Yeah, we're trying."

"I'm just sorry we have to impose to do it. Your poor mother is cooking for an army."

Viktoria laughed, a rich, warm sound. "My mother loves that you guys are here. Besides, you saved Dimitri. You and Rose are welcome here always. And you can bring an army of friends if you want. I just wish I could see him. I almost don't believe it's true."

"Didn't you speak to him on the phone?" Lissa sounded concerned.

"Oh, yeah. It's just been so long since we last heard his voice. What is it they say? Seeing is truth?"

"Seeing is believing." Adrian corrected, and Viktoria smiled appreciatively.

"Exactly. But just knowing…" She sighed, looking at Lissa with such compassion it made my heart swell. "I wish somebody could do for you with your brother what you have done to me with mine. You and Rose have given us the greatest gift imaginable."

"It's ok." Lissa said quietly. Viktoria placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I mean to say thank you."

Lissa smiled.

"Can you tell the story again?"

Lissa looked down to see Paul standing by her leg, looking at her in awe. He loved to hear the story, I gathered. Lissa had already told him the story twice a day since they'd been there. But she didn't mind. In fact, she adored Paul, and so she would tell him the story every time he asked, painting Dimitri as the prince under an evil spell that made him bad, herself as the accidental hero, and me, I realized with a slight twist of humor, as the ass-kicking protagonist. I wondered whether she even knew just how big a role she had played in his 'rescue', but I didn't stick around to find out.

There was a crash nearby, and my instincts, while fuzzy from the drinks, took over. I jumped up and tore myself from Lissa's head to see what had happened.

**a/n: Ok, if memory serves me right, that is the single longest chapter I've written. But I was having so much fun writing about them. While it was still not very revealing as to their mission in Russia, it was a nice little peek into what's going on, and we get to reconnect with the Belikovs. So, I hope you guys enjoyed it. i had every intention of posting last night, but I am staying in a house with six other people, and we're all sharing one computer! I got off work at ten and got home, and somebody (not naming any names...combustion...) was on the computer til 3 a.m. But it worked well, cause I added two pages to this chapter just before posting it for you, so let me know your thoughts. I PROMISE to put 29 up tonight, but I don't know how late it will be cause I work again, and it needs edited. But it _will_ be there, so just give me a little motivation. Ok, I'm sooo rambling. Love youu.**

**xxooxxBelleCeline**


	29. Chapter 29

It only took me a moment to realize what had happened when I returned back into myself. Somebody had, unsurprisingly, broken a lamp. It was anticlimactic, but that kind of thing was to be expected when you had a bunch of drunk teenagers running around. I stood up from the couch, feeling a little bit dazed, and scanned the room. I found Jill immediately, sitting on a couch on the far side of the room. Surprisingly, Jesse was still with her, and they sat together. Neither of them appeared to be drinking, for which I was glad. Christian still wasn't around, so I went over to where Jill and Jesse sat together, standing opposite them. I recalled suddenly how Jesse had tortured Lissa when he wanted her to join in with the mana. That had been the night I had been with Dimitri. While I hated Jesse for hurting Lissa, he had in some perverse way brought Dimitri and I together.

"He's still guessing." Jill informed me happily. I couldn't contain my laugh at that.

"You're not a royal." Jesse said. "There's no way you could be."

"I never said I was." Jill replied honestly. I was surprised that Jesse was still there. He was fairly certain she wasn't from a royal family, and yet he was still talking to her, even when he could walk through the party and pick up almost any girl to take to his bedroom. And yet, he sat on the couch, close to Jill, but not inappropriately so.

"Are you going to tell him?" I asked her, grinning. Jesse looked between us, as if he thought he might be able to pick up on some kind of signal.

Jill turned to look at him. She watched him a moment, her eyes roving over his face. "Nope." She stood up.

"Where are you going?"

Jill looked around. "Your party kind of died." Jesse looked around him. It was true. There were still people around, curled up on the couches, or laying passed out on the floor. Some people still stood in the kitchen, but for the most part, the life of the party seemed to be between Jill and Jesse, and so he couldn't argue with that.

"I don't want you to leave yet." Jesse said quickly, and I laughed, unable to deny it. Jesse was acting like a lovesick puppy. It was entirely beyond me, because I'd never known him to care about anybody.

"Sorry, Zeklos, but Cinderella's got to get home before the fairy godmother gets upset." I said. Jesse shot me an irritated look, and Jill giggled.

"Maybe if you can figure out who I am by the next time I see you, we can do this again." Jill suggested. Jesse looked hopeful.

"When will I see you again?" He asked.

Jill shrugged. "Whenever you find me next, I guess. Night." We turned and left Jesse sitting there. I figured Christian must have gone back to his own room, because he was nowhere to be found. I thought it odd that he should be the one to suggest we crash the party, and then he had ditched us there without even telling me. I would have to punch him later on when he wasn't expecting it. But Jill was on cloud nine. I could see how happy she was, and it made me happy for her. After her tumultuous day, she deserved to feel like that.

"So, was it a good birthday?"

Jill smiled. "It was perfect."

"Are you going to tell Jesse?"

"Probably not. I really just figured he'd ask around. My last name is Mastrano. That's what I was looking for, but he didn't know any better."

"You're deceitful." I muttered, proud of her. "You know, I was really surprised how you handled Jesse. He can be a creep, but you handled yourself really well."

Jill's smile lightened up just a little bit. "What do you mean, he can be a creep?"

I didn't want to shatter Jill's hopes, but at the same time I didn't want her getting caught up in Jesse's web. I sighed. "A couple years ago, I had a thing for him. Dimitri scared him off, and he ended up spreading rumors about me because Mia had sex with him. Apart from that, he kind of likes trouble. And picking on people." I still really wanted to hurt him, even though so much time had passed since he'd tried to force Lissa into joining his cult. The drinks, and my desire to stay out of trouble with the court, is what kept me from lashing out on Jesse tonight. That, and the fact that Jill had gotten his attention.

Jill stopped walking and looked at me in surprise. "That's disgusting." I nodded my agreement. Jill opened her mouth to speak, and then hesitated.

"What?" I asked her, frowning.

"Well, is he… off limits? I mean, since you had a thing with him and all?"

I laughed again, noticing just how loud my laugh was. "Off limits isn't the right way to put it. But he is eighteen."

"And?" Jill prompted.

"And you're not. He's a little old for you, don't you think?" To my surprise, Jill actually laughed.

"Oh, come on. How old is Dimitri, anyways, like twenty five? And Adrian's up there too."

I didn't have a quick response for that. She had a point. The age difference between Dimitri and I had always been part of the reason we had a sort of forbidden love thing going on. That, and the fact that I was his student before. While it was publicly scorned, and not really permissible, it was at least _legal_, seeing as I was above the age of sixteen. Of course, Jesse and Jill could be together so long as they didn't do anything of a sexual nature, but knowing Jesse, that wasn't going to happen. And I really didn't want that to be an option anyways.

"Ok. Just don't start planning your wedding, Jill. He just likes to play games."

Jill was quiet as we walked back to Lissa's room. I was feeling pretty low, like I'd just told her Jesse would never want her. It was only a matter of me trying to protect her, but I don't think she wanted to hear that from me. Luckily for her, she didn't have to, because right before I was about to open my mouth and try to justify my worry, I noticed Dimitri standing in front of Lissa's door. Or rather, Jill noticed Dimitri. He turned to look at us when he heard us coming down the corridor.

"I'll just go in and make myself comfortable." Jill said, giving me a smug smile. I handed her the key to Lissa's room, and she timidly waved to Dimitri before letting herself in. I stopped a few feet away from him, leaning against the wall.

"I'm sorry I didn't find you sooner." I had been avoiding looking at him, but just then I found myself looking up into his eyes. I felt weightless under his smooth stare.

"Where have you been?" He demanded. Immediately, my mind told me to take two steps back.

"What are you talking about? Don't take that tone with me." I scolded, shaking my finger at him. Surprisingly, Dimitri laughed. I blinked, confused. "Are you bipolar?" I asked him, genuinely concerned.

"No. Are you drunk?"

I frowned. "Of course I'm not." I really didn't want for him to think I was drunk. I really wasn't, to be honest. Three drinks, even three large ones, could not have gotten me drunk. I had learned before Lissa and I left the academy that I wasn't really a lightweight. I was small, sure, but I could hold my own pretty well. Besides, when I'd been in Russia, at Dimitri's memorial, people had been refilling my cup all night and I hadn't been…My mind cut itself off, as if I had been speaking out loud and then interrupted myself. I recalled Dimitri's memorial, and the drinks I'd been drinking. The Russian Vodka. Now I knew why that burn had seemed familiar. But that hadn't been pure Russian Vodka I'd been drinking, surely, because there was another taste. Damn Jesse had been mixing alcohol. "Bastard." I said out loud.

"Rose!" Dimitri said, aghast. I looked up at him, confused, and then I could feel my eyes widen as I realized what he thought.

"Not you! Jesse. He's lucky I didn't throw up on him."

Dimitri looked, dare I say it, amused. It was so different from what I'd been accustomed to since he came back that I realized I must actually be drunk. There is no way Dimitri would approve of my drinking.

"Let's go sober you up." He said, wrapping an arm around me. My feet didn't move at first. I was caught off guard by the show of affection. He had said he loved me still, but I'd thought it too good to be true. I didn't think, even if he still loved me, that it would ever be this easy. I never thought he would touch me or speak softly to me, or even be seen in public in my presence without yelling at me. And yet, his arm was around me, our bodies close, electricity between us. I was barely even aware that we were headed to his room until he opened the door and let me in.

The room was bare, with few furnishings compared to Lissa's. There was a bed and a dresser. Needless to say, he led me to the bed and I sat down on the edge of it, knowing that with a couple of different boozes floating around in my stomach, laying down would probably make me ill. I watched Dimitri take a glass from the nightstand and walk to the bathroom. I heard the sound of the faucet, and a few moments later he came back to hand me a glass of water. I drank it gratefully, and he filled the cup again, placing it on the stand in case I wanted it.

"I saw your family tonight." I told him, looking at him. His face was smooth and impassive, but his eyes danced in amusement. I ran a hand along the bed post absently.

"You went to Russia and back?" He said, playing into my game.

"Yes. I went into Lissa's head. You know, the bond."

"Ah, right." Dimitri nodded. "What's new with my family?"

"Sonya had her baby."

Dimitri stopped moving. "I forgot about that."

"I told you when you were strigoi." I said, my voice more defensive then I had intended it to be.

"I know. It just went out of my head, I guess."

"They named her Rozalia."

Dimitri smiled. "Sounds Italian."

"But they're going to call her Rose for short." I wasn't sure whether I sounded proud. I hadn't meant to.

"If the name makes the person, then I hope she's as good a guardian as you." Dimitri said quietly. I snorted, most unattractively.

"Yeah, right. Cause I'm such a good guardian."

"You are." Dimitri insisted.

I laughed again. "My charge is in _Russia_!" I stressed the word Russia. "And the other Dragomir and I were off getting drunk tonight. I don't think that makes me good at all. I'm bad."

"The other Dragomir?" He asked. I looked at him, confused.

"What?"

"You said the other Dragomir."

"No I didn't." I insisted. I wanted to tell him about Jill. I could confide in Dimitri, I was sure. But this hardly seemed like the time or place. "I'm drunk. I don't know what I'm saying."

Dimitri cracked a smile over that. "We should get you back to Lissa's room, then."

"What?" I asked, alarmed. "No!"

And then, I felt like the Gods had given me a gift, because Dimitri genuinely laughed. It was one of those rare things that I had sought after so much before. I knew it was a treasure when I got one, and it always made me feel like it was Christmas morning.

I recovered, clearing my throat. "I don't have a key." I said. It was true. I had given my key to Jill. Of course, Jill could let me in, but I wasn't looking for any ways to get around that. Right now, this was my hope of staying with Dimitri a while longer.

"You can stay here tonight, if you'd like. I'll sleep on the floor." I scowled at him.

"You can't sleep on the floor! It's dirty."

"The maid was here earlier, Roza. It's clean."

"I can't let you sleep on the floor. Sleep with me."

Dimitri seemed to be having an internal struggle between good and evil. I tried to wait it out patiently, but I was patient on very rare occasion. I grabbed his hand and moved over on the bed. He understood that it was his cue to sit down. I leaned my head against his shoulder.

"I told you I would never abandon you." I said, practically whispering into his ear.

"I remember. I'm glad you didn't." Dimitri said; his voice soft. I turned to look at him, and he looked a little uncomfortable. I think that was because he had also promised not to abandon me.

"Do you regret it?" I asked, before I could stop myself. I didn't specify what I was referring to, but Dimitri understood me so perfectly that I didn't need to. Any further information was unnecessary.

"The only thing I regret between us is lying to you."

"You said it was for my own good." I reminded him, unnecessarily. Dimitri nodded.

"Even then, it hurt you. You know how much it hurts me to do that to you?" I didn't have an answer for that. "I think that day you came to me in the church was the worst day of my life. The hardest thing I have ever done is tell you I didn't love you, even if I thought it was in your best interest."

I felt overwhelmed, and I almost wanted to cry. Whether it would be tears of joy or not, I didn't know, but I didn't want to cry. I moved closer to Dimitri and pulled him into my arms. I held him like that for a long moment, neither of us moving. I felt more whole in that moment then I had in what seemed like ages.

I pulled away from him just a bit, even though I really didn't want to. I needed to see his face. But he didn't allow me much of a chance, because he placed a gentle hand under my chin and guided my mouth to his. There was no hesitation on either of our parts, but it was not the crazy, insistent kissing we had experienced the other day. This was gentle, and loving. This was real. I allowed myself to be pulled into him, and I shut off all thoughts of what lay behind us. Living for the moment, I kissed him back, until suddenly our kissing was turning into more. And still, it was nothing rushed or intense. It was only love, and passion, and commitment. There was a peace between us, and I didn't know the exact moment that we had established it, but I didn't allow myself to question it. Living only for that moment, we fell back onto the bed together, our bodies tangled up so tightly we could have been a single entity.

I lay under him, happy just to have him there. I was still confused by the sudden turn of events. My mind still didn't want to let go of the fact that only a few days ago, he had denied he had anything left in his heart for me. Now, he claimed he loved me. I believed him, of course. Dimitri was hardly the type of man that would do anything of this sort with somebody who he did not care for. His body covered mine perfectly, and I marveled at the fit of us. Being there with him, skin touching skin, was a bliss that I had forgotten about. I was so enamored with him, I found myself unable to breathe. But when I pulled away, it was worse, like I was drowning, and so I moved back into him and we moved together in perfect union. Our clothes fell away slowly and steadily, and though we were both very much into the moment, there was no means of intensity or frenzy. It was love, pure and simple.

I lost myself to the moment. I was so aware of every little detail that was going on, carried up on a cloud of ecstasy, and at the same time I was not bound by anything in this world or the next. Nothing could hold me down. Until it was over.

I lay next to Dimitri, our bodies curled into each other. The look he gave me was one of such love and compassion, I wanted to do it all over again. But I was tired, both from the physical activity and from the cocktail of drinks I'd had at Jesse's party. The whole day lay behind me: going to Detroit and back, finding Jill, seeing the queen's ghost. Though the past week had been compiled of the longest days and nights of my life, this had been the longest, and at the same time it was the best. I allowed myself to fall into a sleep, feeling safe in the haven that Dimitri's arms represented.

He was awake when I fell asleep; The last thing I saw before sinking into the comfort of the moment was his heavenly eyes watching me in adoration. I fell asleep, into my own dreams, which were peaceful and filled with Dimitri. I had felt so whole and complete just before I'd fallen asleep, but now that I was asleep, I felt a little like part of me was missing. I couldn't figure out exactly what it was, but when I woke up, I realized why I'd felt so desolate. Adrian hadn't visited. 

**a/n: Just as promised. Ok, I'm soooo nervous about this chapter. Normally, I kind of know what to expect. Like if it's something with Dimitri, I think...Cariness will be pleased. And if it's with ADrian I think .x should be happy, and Combustion will be ecstatic. But I have no idea what you guys are going to think, and so I think this chapter is the one I really need to know what your thoughts are! By the way, let me just say, your work is not unappreciated. All of you make my day. Those of you who are steady, faithful reviewers are what I look froward to when I turn the computer on, and I love hearing from everybody else too, new or old! You guys can't do me any wrong! I was ecstatic somebody thought this was worth translating into another language using google, because we all know translators are faulty and it seems in my opinion, more trouble than it's worth! So please, keep it up! And tell me what you think for my mental health! =) Love, BelleC**


	30. Chapter 30

Despite the fact that I missed Adrian, and felt guilty as sin over what I had done last night, I felt blissfully happy when morning came. I lay in the bed with him until Dimitri woke up, scared to disturb him. I felt really good, which was odd considering the alcohol should have left me with a hangover. I guess Dimitri had been the one to cure me of that. I smiled stupidly. I knew the cure, and nobody else could ever have it.

I half-expected that when Dimitri woke up he would jump and run away from me in a total coyote ugly moment. I was grateful, of course, that he didn't. Instead, he smiled at me as if I were the sun. "I'm glad you stayed." He whispered. My fingers found his, and though we were laying together completely bare, when our fingers entwined together, I felt that same surprising shock of electricity spark between us.

"Glad I gave Jill the only key." I said, smiling back at him. Dimitri laughed, brushing a stray hair from my face. I was so peaceful and fulfilled, like if I died right there I would have no regrets. And at the same time, I felt a slightly paranoid sense of worry. I didn't know what this meant for us. What lay ahead was yet to be seen. It seemed like too much to ask that he would just decide we could have a real relationship now. But for now, I was going to take my moments as they came to me. I should probably not lay here in the bed, but I was not willing to remove myself from his sheets, or for that matter, detach my body from his.

"You don't regret it?" He asked, his eyes roving over my face. I nearly choked on thin air.

"Regret it? How could I regret _that_?"

Dimitri smiled for my benefit, but I could see that he genuinely thought I might not be happy with my decision. "You did mention you'd been drinking. I suppose I shouldn't have-"

I cut him off, bored with that conversation. "I told you I was drunk so you would let me stay. And so you wouldn't question me about the whole Last Dragomir thing." I admitted.

"But you had been drinking. I could taste it on you."

That made me feel oddly giddy, and I tried not to look smug at that. "Well, I was, but I knew what I was doing. Besides, it's not like it didn't happen before."

"But you weren't-"

"Oh, be quiet." I rolled my eyes at him. "I really think you underestimate how much I love you. I went to the end of the world to find you."

"Russia is hardly the end of the world." He said, amused. "But I appreciate that you did."

"I can't say it was just for you. I mean, part of it was about me, even if that's selfish. I couldn't bear to know you were walking the Earth without really being here. I needed you, and if I couldn't have you, then I would have to make sure that your soul could at least rest."

"It's not selfish." Dimitri insisted. "Our futures are tied together, in one way or another."

"Soul mates." I whispered, more to myself than him. If you had asked me at any other time in my life, I would have scoffed at the idea of soul mates. But after everything I'd been through with Dimitri, I was starting to believe in them. Maybe he was right, and no matter what would happen with us, we were bound together for the rest of our lives? I could live with that, of course.

"In the end, we will always find each other. All paths for us will lead back to the starting point. I liked the way that sounded. I would need him forever. Hearing that our futures were twined together was a nice thing, but I needed to really talk with him. I pushed aside my emotional revelations and fixed him with a serious look.

"Didn't you notice I said, and I quote, 'I told you I was drunk so you wouldn't ask me what I meant about the last Dragomir'?"

Dimitri looked more amused than hurt that I changed the subject so quickly. "I did. Lissa was getting drunk too, then. That must be Viktoria's doing."

I laughed, but shook my head. "Lissa isn't the Last Dragomir."

"Really," He was playing it up, pretending for a second that it wasn't absurd. I didn't like him humoring me. He needed to _believe_ me.

"I'm being serious." I said, looking him in the eye. "You need to listen."

He had thought I was crazy long ago when I had told him I saw ghosts. He didn't believe in ghosts, even though he was scared of Tarot cards and fortune tellers. He was ready to dismiss this idea too, but something about the way I was looking at him must have kept him from doing so, because he let go of the softest sigh and said, "Tell me."

Happy to have his attention, I did just that. "You know how I'm going to be on trial for killing the queen? Well, the queen trusted me. I mean, she knew I thought she was a bitch, but she left me a letter-"

"The queen left you-"

"Don't interrupt." I chastised him. "The day of my hearing, Ambrose gave me a letter from the queen. She told me that there was another Dragomir left. She said I had to find them to set the quorum right. She thought that Lissa should have her place in the court, so she told me I needed to find this half-sibling."

"The queen left you a letter saying Lissa had a half-sibling?"

"Her exact words? 'She is not the last Dragomir. Another lives'." I paused, taking in Dimitri's face. "Eric Dragomir had an illegitimate child."

"That's unlikely." Dimitri dismissed the idea.

"Oh, really? You find it hard to believe that he would have another child? You didn't even know him." Not that it would matter if he had, because I had known him and I would have never suspected he had another child. Granted, that child was born before I really came into the equation, but I still think I would have noticed if he had.

"That's not what I meant. If he had an illegitimate child, I think people would know."

"If you cheated on your wife, whom you had two children with, would you go around broadcasting it to the world?"

"That's not what I mean, Roza. Calm down."

"Do _you _even know what you mean? I asked you to listen and you're just fighting me on this!" Dimitri laughed, but I didn't find any humor in my yelling at him. I was very frustrated with his flippancy.

"I only mean that the way our society is, I think it would take a lot to cover that up."

"Well, it did take a lot. 600,000 dollars a year." I said, using that piece of inormation as a defense. But knowing Emily, and seeing the way her and Jill lived, it didn't seem likely that the 600,000 a year had been bribe money. I think it was really for Jill's financial security. Eric hadn't planned on dying as young as he had, but even if he had been immortal, he would not have been able to ensure Jill's financial security in the same manner that he secured Lissa's. "The facts were all there, it just needed for somebody to dig a little deeper."

"Which I presume you did?"

"Of course I did. The queen asked me to."

Dimitri looked at me doubtfully. "You did it for the queen?"

"Of course not." I laughed. "But it doesn't matter. I got the information I needed."

"From Tarus?" Dimitri guessed.

"As a matter of fact, yes. But that doesn't matter. I found out where this illegitimate child was and I went to get them." I paused, stealing a glance at his face.

"That's what you risked your life for?" Dimitri asked, nearly incredulous.

"I hardly risked my life. Only charges of contempt. Besides, it worked out."

"You found the Last Dragomir, then?"

"Yes. And I brought her back with me." I bit my lip, taking in his face. He was still looking at me like I was crazy.

"Where is she?"

"Right now? Probably in Lissa's room. Her name is Jill." Dimitri's face slowly registered what I was saying, and he made the connection.

"Jill?"

"Yeah. Jillian Mastrano. Remember her?" Dimitri had met Jill when I had, when we'd went to the elementary campus on an errand. I had met Jill first, and introduced them afterwards. Now, Dimitri was recalling that moment and then last night when she'd waved at him before entering Lissa's room. I felt like I could practically see the memories in his eyes, playing out like a scene from a movie.

"How can you be sure she is a Dragomir?" Dimitri asked, ever doubtful.

"I did the investigative work. She didn't search me out to tell me who she was. Jill didn't even know who her father was until yesterday."

"Do you have any proof?" I wouldn't consider myself really to be a trusting person. Dimitri, Lissa, Adrian, Eddie, and my parents were the only people I trusted, and even the last two were sort of shaky. But it never occurred to me I shouldn't trust Jill. I wanted her to trust me. I had to invest some trust in her if I wanted to get it back.

"What do you want me to do? Get a paternity test done for her? Her mother confirmed that she had a short-lived thing with Lissa's dad. That's where Jill came from."

"What if it isn't true, Roza?" His voice was infinitely patient, and I found it to be irritating. He thought I had lost my marbles; It was obvious, so why try to hide it?

"What do you mean?"

"How can you be sure? It could be a play on the queen's absence. It could be a move for power."

I simply stared at him, not even sure what to say about that. It was one of the stupidest things I'd ever heard him say. To his credit, he was thinking the way a guardian should. Put trust in nobody but yourself. However, he didn't know Jill the way I did. She was hardly capable of masterminding an evil plan like that, not because she was unintelligent, but because she didn't have that kind of cruelty in her heart.

"Do you trust me?" I asked him, genuinely wanting to be informed. I was almost positive the answer would be yes, but I had to be sure.

"I trust you, for better or worse." He said, his voice melodic. The last part of his answer threw me off. For better or worse…

"Then trust me on this. There is no scheme to take power. If I can trust Jill, then so can you."

"Will you have her take a test?"

"If she's ok with it. I don't want to offend her."

"If she isn't okay with it, then something is wrong."

I shrugged, acknowledging his claim. "Ok. Consider it done." I propped myself up on one elbow, my hair falling over my bare shoulders.

"Who knows about the letter?" Dimitri asked, a faraway look in his eye.

"Christian and Jill. And Ambrose, of course, since he's the one who gave it to me."

"This letter could go a long way to proving your innocence."

"How?" I had already thought about it, but I didn't know what made it a good piece of evidence.

"I'd have to loom at it. But it sounds like she knew somebody was after her."

"Yeah, I think she knew there was a target on her head." I agreed. Dimitri looke at me seriously.

"She was queen. There was always a target on her head. But something happened that made her write you this letter. It would have to be a sudden thing, too, or else I would think she would have told you, rather than wait til after she died for you to get her message."

"None of that proves I didn't kill her."

"No." Dimitri agreed. "But it proves that she trusted you. It might not seem like it to you, but the queen's trust is a great honor."

"Doesn't feel like it." I muttered. "Seems to me more of an obligation. And now all she'll do is tell me these stupid things that make no sense. She keeps saying I don't know who is my friend and who is my enemy."

"She told you that?"

"A couple of times. Yesterday, when I got back, she showed up."

"You mean her ghost?" He clarified. He knew me so well.

"Exactly. And she isn't very helpful. She can't tell me anything I need to know."

"You must have everything you need to figure it out, then."

"That's pretty much what she said. Except, I don't think I have all the pieces. I was able to find her will, and it says she left me letters. I never got them."

Dimitri was frowning at me, looking like I was now far off the ledge of sanity. "You didn't have a place in her will." He said slowly, as if trying to make the point.

"According to her will, I did. She left me letters and Adrian got all her money."

Dimitri was shaking his head. It was irritating, considering I had seen her will and he hadn't. I knew what I had seen there. "They shared her will in court the other day, at the hearing to decide the new monarch. She didn't leave anything to you, or Adrian. All of her assets went to Prince Ivashkov."

**a/n: uh oh. more problems for rose. why are there two wills? who is to blame? perhaps the queen herself... at least that gives you guys a little bit of calm before the storm. and is dimitri right? should she trust jill? questions, questions. tell me your thoughts. it wasn't the most eventful of chapters, but finally they get an opportunity to just relax and talk, and have a conversation that doesn't end in fighting. in the next few chapters you can look forward to some more dimitri, lissa, and adrian. what do you guys think of chapter thirty? lemme know. much love :)**


	31. Chapter 31

"You're sure it was Prince Ivashkov? Not Lord Ivashkov?"

Dimitri shook his head. "Nathan got everything."

I thought about that. I had seen the queen's will, held it in my own hands. In fact, it was in Lissa's room right now, just where I'd left it between the mattress. The will had bequeathed Adrian all the queen's money. Nathan had earned his family's spot on council, though that would have happened with or without the queen's will. I had been left some letters. What bothered me about that was that letters was plural. I had already gotten one letter, but where were the rest of them? They clearly contained something important, and they could tell me what the queen had left to Lissa. I couldn't even begin to imagine what that would be, unless it was her sister? But again, you couldn't really inherit people, particularly not Jill. And so I had all of those questions running around in my head, colliding with each other at light speed. On top of that, I had to figure out why she had two wills?

It was possible that one had been written at a previous date, before the other. If that were the case, then only one of them was valid. Never mind the fact that only one was valid anyways, because they had two opposing declarations. Nathan versus Adrian? I had seen, the day I met Adrian's parents, the way that the queen acted around Adrian. She really did prize him. Nathan, on the other hand, had almost cowered before her. It was hard to imagine she would leave everything to a man she had no real interest in, as opposed to her favorite great nephew. Perhaps she had thought once that giving Nathan all of her possessions had been the right decision, and then she had switched her ideas in support of Adrian?

"Christian and I saw her will." I insisted. "It was signed by Tasha and Ambrose."

That statement took Dimitri by surprise. I could tell by the way he looked at me. "Tasha Ozera?"

"Yeah."

"What was her name doing on there?"

"Apparently she was a witness. I don't know why. It seems odd, since Tasha is behind all sorts of rebellions." I was laying in bed with him. Scratch that. I was lying in bed naked with him. I didn't want to talk about Tasha, even if that was hypocritical, seeing as we'd just been talking about Adrian.

"It is odd." Dimitri agreed, that far-away look in his eye once again. I didn't like that look, and I wanted to make the most of the time we had. This had been a nice reprieve, but soon I would have to get back to reality. It was too bad the world couldn't stop when I was with Dimitri. We would have all the time we could ever want. Of course, if it did stop, it would probably never start back up, because I was reluctant to leave him. I rolled over so that my body was above his, sandwiching us together. I lay my head against his chest, happy that I could hear his heart beat. I had thought once that I'd killed this man. But he was here, whether by my own mistake or some divine intervention. I wasn't sure which, but I wasn't about to question it. I moved my head back to look at him, and saw his eyes taking me in, full of wonder. I kissed him softly.

There was a knock on the door. Unable to control my reflexes, I jumped, so far that I ended up falling off the bed. It didn't hurt. Actually, it struck me as funny, and so I lay on the ground in silent laughter. Dimitri's face appeared over the side of the bed, full of such concern it only made me want to laugh harder. I swallowed my incessant giggles, though, and Dimitri helped me up. "You shouldn't be here." He whispered. The overlying tone to his voice was concerned and serious, but I think he too was a little amused by my lack of grace.

"Why not? We aren't at the academy anymore. We don't have to hide."

"No. But you should be with Lissa. Go hide in the bathroom."

"Are you serious? I'm not hiding in the bathroom."

Dimitri looked at me incredulously, his mouth twisting into a smile. He stood up and was already pulling on pants. "Ok, then go answer the door." His eyes roamed over my body, and I realized I wasn't wearing clothes. I hadn't really thought that through. I picked up what I could find of my clothing, as it was all thrown about the room, and ran into the bathroom.

I heard Dimitri open the door. "Guardian Belikov." I heard the greeting, but I didn't recognize the voice.

"Guardian Shrode." Dimitri returned in his formal guardian speak.

"I thought you might be interested in knowing that Lady Ozera has requested your audience."

I frowned, hearing Tasha's name. I liked her. I really liked her. I don't think I was necessarily jealous, but I didn't like that she was infringing upon my time with Dimitri. Although, to her credit, I suppose she couldn't have known I would be with him. I heard Dimtiri's voice again. "I'll be right there."

I heard the door shut, and I opened the bathroom door, peeking around the corner. Dimitri set something down on the nightstand and turned, smiling at me. I began to toss my clothes on. "What does Tasha want?"

"I don't know." Dimitri said. I could tell by the inflection of his voice that he honestly didn't know.

"Well, when you talk to her, you should ask about the will." I did my best to sound indifferent, which may or may not have worked, because I was in the process of putting my shirt back on. My voice came out muffled to my own ears. I flipped my hair over my shoulder, hoping it was not imminently obvious that I had been out all night.

"I will figure it out." He assured me. I rubbed the back of my head, and he came close to me. "Did you hurt yourself?"

"When I fell from heaven?" I asked lamely. "No, I'm fine."

Dimitri pulled me close, his arms comforting. "I'm glad." He whispered, kissing the top of my head where it had hit the ground. "You should go check on Jill."

I nodded, knowing him to be right. I was feeling guilty for leaving her to fend for herself, even if she was entirely capable. "I'll see you later, then?"

Dimitri smiled. "I'll be there."

I kissed him again, still amazed to be doing that, and left the room. I was still curious as to what Tasha had wanted from him, but I was preoccupied momentarily with my own walk of shame. I hoped that nobody would see me and notice the clothes I was wearing had been slept in. I was pretty sure I'd even spilled drinks on my clothes last night.

To my surprise, I made it all the way back to Lissa's room without running into anybody, save for a passing moroi who kept their head down, avoiding my gaze. Though I thought the moroi was silly for thinking they had to avoid eye contact, I was glad when I made it to the door and knocked. Jill answered in a matter of seconds, as if she had been expecting me. The door flew open, and I stepped in, taking in her face. I paused, concerned.

"What's wrong?"

Jill shook her head and shut the door. She went back to the other side of the room again to Lissa's bed and sat down, cross-legged. "Did you have a nice night?" She asked, ignoring my question. I could feel the color in my cheeks, and I tried not to make it obvious.

"I was so tired that by the time I got to Dimitri's room, I lay down on the bed and went straight to sleep." I lied, wondering whether Jill could see through it.

"I don't believe you." Jill informed me. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and she was still dressed in some of Lissa's night clothes.

"I'm sorry." I said, inexplicably. Jill shrugged.

"I'm not mad you stayed out. I'm actually happy you did, although I don't think Adrian would be very happy."

I paused. "Are you threatening me?" I almost didn't believe it. The queen's warning came to me. Did I really know my friends from my enemies?

Jill laughed. "Of course not, Rose. I like Adrian is all. And he is so over the moon for you. I just wish you could have them both."

_So do I_. I smiled. "You are happy I stayed out last night?"

"Yep." Jill grinned, pulling the blanket over her feet. I waited for an elaboration, but she didn't go on.

"Well," I prompted, "Are you going to tell me why you're glad I didn't come back?"

"Because Jesse showed up." Jill said, her voice low. She spoke so fast I had to decipher what she said. When I understood it, I had to make sure I had heard correct.

"What?" I screeched. Jill looked embarrassed. She avoided my gaze, looking at her feet from under the blanket. She wiggled her toes, watching them move. "Jill…" My voice carried a note of menace. "Explain."

"You're not my mother." Jill mumbled.

"Explain!" I commanded her. Jill sighed, but obliged.

"Last night when I came in I decided to watch t.v. for a while. I left the lights off, so I didn't notice the blood til I turned the lights on to change."

"The blood?" I asked, shaky. I didn't know what had happened, but I didn't like any of what was going on.

"There was a squirrel on the bed." She said, pausing. I wanted to yell at her to keep going, but the look on her face stopped me. "It was dead."

"Dead?" I was being pretty stupid now, parroting her words, but I was too surprised to be coherent.

"I'm pretty sure it was dead. It's head was gone." She looked pale, recounting that, and I felt like I probably paled too. Seeing a dead animal was disturbing enough. But it had been beheaded?

"I threw up." Jill admitted, looking embarrassed. "And I was scared. But I didn't know where you had went, and I knew I couldn't tell a guardian because they would know Lissa wasn't there. So I went back and got Jesse."

Her words washed over me, and I took it all in. The gesture was familiar. When Victor had wanted for Lissa to use her spirit, he had broken into her room and left dead or dying animals around the room. It had been his test of her powers. He was certain she'd healed me, brought me back to life, and he figured if she got some practice in with stray animals, she would be better at healing away his illness. I was entirely familiar with Victor's scheme, and this didn't seem like one of his. He knew Lissa could heal now; there was no point in scaring her into doing it again. And yet, it didn't seem like the same thing. Something that lost it's head could hardly be brought back to life.

"That was meant for me." I said out loud. I had meant only to think it, but as the realization dawned on me, I couldn't help but speak my thoughts. I didn't know if it was meant as a threat or a reminder, but somehow I knew that the squirrel had been left for me. The fact that it had been beheaded was what made me sure of it. It had been killed execution style, a reminder of my impending doom.

"I know I shouldn't have gotten Jesse. I'm sorry, because now he knows that Lissa isn't here. But I was so scared, and I didn't know what to do."

I nodded, dismissing her apology. "He cleaned it up then?" I asked, noticing now that the bed had been stripped of the sheets. The blanket Jill was wrapped in was not the comforter that had been there.

"He was really nice about it. He cleaned it up and then he cleaned up my puke, too."

I looked at her, momentarily distracted from the grim conversation by that last point. "Jesse Zeklos cleaned up your puke?" It was a stupid thing to ask, but it didn't seem likely.

"Yeah. He helped me get cleaned up and he stayed with me."

"Jill," I said warily. "You didn't…" I left my sentence to hang, leaving it to Jill's imagination. She looked confused at first, but understanding slowly dawned on her face.

"We didn't do anything. We stayed up talking all night. He wouldn't leave until I made him."

I sighed. In spite of my misgivings concerning Jesse, I was glad he had been there for her. I was mentally berating myself for not staying. Her real identity was still under wraps, but she needed protection just in case. I stiffened, looking at her. "Did you tell him your last name?" Last night, I had been all for letting Jill make her own decisions on whether or not to tell him. Now, in the light of day it seemed like a bad idea. Never mind the fact that there was no light, since it was day by our standards. I didn't think Jill should tell anybody until we had told Lissa. I would hate for the news to get back to her from somebody else.

"I told him Mastrano. That's my last name, after all. He doesn't need to know anything else." I nodded, glad she had come to that decision. A thought occurred to me.

"Why didn't you just go find Christian last night, instead of going to Jesse?" Christian's room was much closer than the Zeklos' home, and Jill knew where it was because we had swung by there to meet Christian before we left for the party.

"I tried. He didn't answer." Jill shrugged. I didn't like the sound of that. I hoped he was OK. When I'd last seen him, he hadn't been drinking, so it wasn't too likely he had gone somewhere and passed out drunk. But then, he could have started drinking while I wasn't paying attention. He was probably just sleeping it off.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here." I said, my voice low. I felt weird apologizing for that, but the guilt was coercing me into it.

"It's ok." Jill promised, her face earnest. "It was scary, but Jesse was really helpful."

I thought of my time with Dimitri, suddenly recalling the events of the morning, considering our conversation. I went to the bed and stuck my hand between the mattresses, pulling out the files I had concealed there. Jill gave me a funny look. "So that's why the bed was so uncomfortable." I only gave her a mild glance as I lay the folder on the bed, spreading the contents around in search of the will. "I was just joking." Jill said, her voice defensive. "You know, like the princess and the pea?"

I wasn't really sure what she was talking about, but I guess that was because I wasn't really paying attention. I scanned the papers real quick, but didn't see what I was looking for. Frustrated, I stacked them all together and peeled the pages apart one by one. Jill was still saying something about the princess and the pea, but I was tuning her out. My frustration mounted as I looked through the papers a third time. I threw them on the ground, angry. The queen's will was missing.

**a/n: oh, wow. 31 chapters in? already? =) i love you guyss. and i hope this chapter intrigued you, because as i was reading it to my beta reader, it came across as hilarious to me! jill is so funny! and rose is not very nice for leaving her alone all night, but she never saw that coming. poor squirrel never saw it coming either. so what are your thoughts? where did the queen's will go? who killed the squirrel? and man, let me just say, if jesse is dedicated enough to jill to clean up her puke even if she's not royal, she just may have a keeper! or not...**

**lemmeknow what's on your mind,**

**love bellec**


	32. Chapter 32

"Christian!" My knuckles sounded insistent against the wood. Jill gave me an odd look, but I ignored her. I knocked again. "Christian, are you in there?" I leaned against the door, thoughtful. I couldn't figure out where he could have gotten himself to.

"Hey, Rose-" Jill began. I turned to look at her, so I didn't notice the sounds coming from behind the door. It opened and I stumbled backwards a few steps. Christian grabbed my arm and steadied me.

"I always knew you would fall for me one day, Rose." He smirked. I returned that with my own sarcastic sneer, and without waiting for an invitation, I walked right into the room. Jill remained in the hall, seemingly waiting for Christian's approval. "Come on in. I'll make a pot of tea and we can gossip."

"Christian," I said, a hint of warning in my voice. "Where the hell did you go last night?"

Jill took a seat at the table. I stood not far from Christian, ready for some kind of face off. Instead, Christian laughed. "I wasn't really enjoying myself at the party, so I decided to leave."

"And you came back here?"

"Yes, Rose. I came back here."

I eyed him slowly. "Well thanks for telling us."

Christian grinned. "I didn't know you needed me to take care of you."

"I don't!" I said acerbically. "In fact, I need to take care of you. You should have told me you were going to leave."

"I'm… sorry." Christian said slowly, like he thought I was an idiot. "Next time I will ask for your permission." I shook my head, frustrated with him.

"Well, where did you go after you got here?"

Christian frowned. "Nowhere."

"You must have gone somewhere. Jill came here in the middle of the night, and she said you didn't answer."

Christian turned to look at her, amused. "What were you doing looking for me in the middle of the night?" Jill flushed, and my eyes flashed a warning. Christian shrugged. "I was here all night after I got home from Jesse's party. Are you sure you got the right room?" He looked at Jill, the question in his gaze. Jill shrugged.

"I thought I did." She said quietly. "But maybe I got it mixed up."

Christian gave me a look that seemed to say 'I told you so'. "What's the deal with the twenty questions? Did somebody kill the queen again? Because it wasn't me."

"Be serious for a minute, please. Last night, Jill found a dead squirrel on the bed."

"How'd a squirrel get in Lissa's room?"

"Not by accident." I said. "Somebody cut it's head off."

Christian's face returned to an all serious continence. "What?"

"The squirrel had no head." Jill informed him. I looked at her, trying not to let myself be amused with the way she had said that.

"Who…?" Christian didn't need to finish the sentence.

"My guess? Victor Dashkov. Remember, Lissa told you how he used to leave her dead presents all the time."

It was quiet for a few moments while we all considered that. Then Christian spoke again. "I don't see why he would make himself so obvious, though. The necklace, and now this?"

"Because, who would believe us? Somebody would just say that necklace had probably been in my drawer the whole time. And I'm a suspect for murder. Victor knows I wouldn't tell anybody in the court because it would draw attention to me. I would tell them about the squirrel, and they'll say I did it, and I'm really a troubled girl with an unstable mind."

Christian shrugged. "Maybe you are. You're thinking the way Victor would. You could use insanity as your shovel to get out of this mess."

I almost wanted to smack him upside the head. "Are you serious? Say I'm crazy and then what? Spend the rest of forever in a mental institution? I think not."

"You'd get to keep your head." Christian remarked. I sighed.

"I'm not crazy. At least, not in the straight jacket way." Jill gave a short laugh, then quieted, her face turning pink.

"So what did you do with it?" Christian asked, catching me by surprise.

"Do with what?"

"The squirrel. I assume you came here because you wanted me to clean it up."

"Well, Jill sure as hell wasn't going to do it. But don't worry, she got a real man to clean it up."

"By real man, I'm supposed to assume you?" Christian guessed. I looked at him coldly.

"No. Jesse did it."

Surprise crossed his face. "What was Jesse doing there?"

"Jill went and got him when _you _didn't answer."

Christian shook his head. "I don't think you had the right room, because I didn't hear anything all night. And what, you couldn't have done it yourself, Rose? You kill people all the time. Cleaning up a squirrel should have been nothing for you."

"It wouldn't have been anything," I agreed, using my defenses. "If I had been there."

"Where were you?"

"It's not important. We have a bigger problem."

Christian's face was a picture perfect reflection of his doubt. But just in case I didn't get the picture, his voice was riddled with it too. "A problem bigger than somebody breaking into Lissa's room and leaving decapitated squirrels around?"

I ignored him. "The queen had two wills."

The news didn't seem to phase him. Jill, who hadn't known either, gasped a little. "How is that possible?"

"It's possible, just not right. Only one is her true will. Even if she made both herself, only one will be honored."

"But you don't think she made both wills." Christian said, reading between the lines.

"Not at all. She was precise. And on top of that, she knew she was going to die. I think she would have her stuff together. One will, the one that you and I read, states that she gave Adrian all her money, and the other states that she was leaving everything to Nathan."

"Adrian's father," Christian clarified. I nodded.

"Well, how do we know which is real?" Jill asked. I turned to look at her. I had almost forgotten she was over there.

"I don't know. Nobody knows about the second will. They're just going to honor the one that leaves everything to Nathan."

"So, then we'll have to tell them about the second one. I'm sure some kind of expert could figure out which is real."

"Yeah." I agreed. "But how would we tell them we got it? Unless you want to tell them about how you broke into guardian records, you're going to have to come up with a convincing story."

Christian considered that. "We could say it was with the letter she left you."

"The letter Ambrose gave me. That would get him tangled up in this mess too. I don't want him to get in trouble."

"He's already in trouble. Him, and Aunt Tasha both. They signed that will. If the court decides it's fake, they'll be in a whole world of trouble."

"That's a chance you're willing to take?" I asked. I wasn't sure about his relationship with his aunt. It seemed like they were close, but I couldn't see Christian just gambling with her future.

"They didn't do anything wrong. Whoever made that other will is the one at fault. Probably Nathan."

"Ok." I nodded. "Just one thing." Christian inclined his head slightly, waiting for me to go on. "The will is missing."

He was quiet. "Missing?"

"It was in the folder with everything else. I put it between the mattresses before we left to get Jill. The folder was there, but the will is not."

"It's got to be in there." Christian mused. "Go double check."

"I already triple-checked. It's not there. And Jill is sure that Jesse didn't take it when he was there last night."

"I figured that. He doesn't care about anybody but himself. He wouldn't be interested in the queen's will."

"So, does it stand to reason that whoever left me that squirrel took the will too?"

Christian crossed his arms, lost in thought. "It's possible. But do you think that somebody just stumbled upon it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you hid it between the mattress. Unless you were looking for something, or you already knew where it was, you wouldn't look under somebody's mattress. Especially not if you were breaking into their room with a decapitated squirrel. That's more of a get in, get out kind of job."

He was right. I would never kill a squirrel and then leave it on somebody's bed, but if it had been me, I would have done the job and got it over with before anybody noticed. I wouldn't go snooping around on top of it.

"But nobody knew where it was. Just me and you."

"Did anybody know you had it?" Christian asked.

"No. It was just me and you. Dimitri knows now, but he didn't know until this morning." The only other person that knew about the will was the very same person who had given me most of the files in the first place. But all of a sudden, it clicked into place. The only other person who knew that I had the will. The very same person who had been acting so odd at the party last night. Somebody whose name was on the will. I looked at Christian, and I think he realized it at the same time that I said it. "Ambrose."

**a/n: I thought this chapter was only short because there is so much dialogue, but as it turns out, it's just plain short. Probably the shortest I've written. I apologize for that, but I bet if I go back it will make it bad. besides, we know all we need to for now. ambrose is suspect! aw, i like him. kind of. can't believe i'm on chapter 32...! That's insane. I'll work to make the next chapter longer, to compensate you guys for all your hard work. for now, you should leave me some lovin ;) **

**xxBelleCeline**


	33. Chapter 33

Jill is not the most intimidating of people, but walking with Christian and I, I would imagine people would run from us. If a fraction of the anger I felt was visible on my face, it would be in everybody's best interest just to turn away and run. However, we didn't encounter anybody until we barged in on Rhonda sitting on the floor of her office. I had never noticed she had a television set in there before, but when I entered the room I could hear the dramatic music of a soap opera. The woman on the screen was begging a tall man not to marry her sister. Rhonda turned to look at me, and I could see tears in her eyes. She smiled when she saw us. "Rose! You've come back so soon again."

"I'm not here for a reading." I assured her. "Where's Ambrose?"

"I can never keep track of that kid. He's always off working or with his girlfriend."

"Who's his girlfriend?" I asked, hoping that we could use that information to find him.

Rhonda shrugged. "I don't know. He won't tell me."

I eyed her suspiciously, seeing if she was telling the truth. "When do you think he'll be here?"

Rhonda looked at her wrist, but there was no watch there. She looked to the TV again, then turned back to me. "It shouldn't be more than a couple of hours. If you would like to stay and watch my programs with me, you can. Or perhaps I could give your friends readings?"

"No." I said quickly, moving back towards the door. "If you see Ambrose, tell him I'm looking for him." I didn't bother with saying anything else. My shortness with Rhonda was an extension of my anger with Ambrose. I wasn't sure what he had done, but I felt pretty confident that he had stolen the queen's will. He was the only person who knew I had it. He had left the party last night, before I went to visit Lissa. As a servant, he could have easily gotten access to Lissa's room.

"She seems nice." Jill said, when we had cleared out of the building. I had the mind to laugh, but my dark mood prevented me from doing so. I briefly wondered if Lissa had been playing with spirit, because this fury had come over me so quickly it almost didn't make sense.

"A fortune teller?" Christian guessed.

"What was your first clue?" I mocked. "She only reads tarot cards. She's hopeless at anything else."

"You've had her read your fortune?" Jill asked, sounding excited. I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye.

"It wasn't anything new to me. She said I would go on an adventure."

"And you went to find me!" Jill breathed, fascinated. I gave her a dry laugh.

"My life is full of adventure lately. It wasn't anything new."

"Don't get too excited, Jill." Christian advised. "That stuff is a hoax. Didn't you see the sign on the door? She charges for readings."

"Well," Jill said quietly. "I would charge too, if I could do that."

"You could do it, if you wanted. She's really not gifted. She plays off of your emotions is all."

I didn't really trust in Rhonda's abilities myself, even if she had been correct a couple of times. Hearing the disappointment in Jill's voice made me want to tell her it was partly real, but I didn't say anything.

"Now what?" I asked out loud. I needed answers, and I had no clue where to find Ambrose.

"Well, we can wait to see if Ambrose comes to find you." Christian suggested. "Although, if he did steal the will, I think he would be avoiding you, not seeking you out."

"I can't just wait for him to come find me!" I huffed. "There's got to be something I can do."

"There were two witnesses on the will. We could go ask Aunt Tasha what she knows. Maybe she'll be able to tell us something we don't know."

I wanted to spurn the idea, but it was workable. I suppose that she could, just maybe, know something of interest. I hadn't seen Tasha since everything with Damon and Mia, and I supposed I could thank her for trying to help clear my name. "Alright." I agreed.

Christian led the way to where Tasha was staying. Because she didn't live on the grounds she only had a room like mine and Christian's. It was not all that far away from Dimitri's, in fact. I wasn't really jealous of that, so much as just trying to be aware of my surroundings. At least, that's what I told myself. Christian knocked on the door, and it was only a matter of seconds before it opened. My mouth fell open when I saw who stood in the doorframe.

"You!" I said, staring at Ambrose in shock. I wondered very briefly whether we had gone to the wrong room, but I didn't really consider it too much as Ambrose moved aside and gestured us in. I noticed Tasha sitting on her bed, but I didn't acknowledge her. I also didn't acknowledge Dimitri, who was standing by her. "Do you have something you need to tell me?" I asked, turning on Ambrose.

"It's nice to see you, Rose." He sighed. His face had always been so lovely, and while it was still that way, he looked more worn than usual. He looked tired and worn out, lines around his eyes and a few creases beginning to mark his forehead.

"Don't give me any bullshit! Did you break into Lissa's room?"

"Look, I'm sorry, but-"

"You stole the queen's will?" I was in his face now. Ambrose didn't look frightened…just a little guilty. And tired.

"Listen to me a minute?" He begged. I laughed.

"I'll be counting."

He realized that was as good as he would get, and he didn't argue it. "I'm sorry. I couldn't let you keep it-"

"So you _did_ steal it?" I asked, looking for some clarification.

"Wait a minute, Rose, I need to-"

I didn't give him a chance to finish his sentence. I closed the space between us in a big, bounding step and punched him square in the face before anybody could see what I had intended. Ambrose was so caught off guard by the punch that he stumbled backwards, not nearly as graceful as his beauty would suggest. I was over him in an instant, my hands at the collar of his shirt. "Did you leave the squirrel too?"

I was barely aware of what was happening, but in a flash, Dimitri was at my side, prying me away from Ambrose. Dimitri was a lot bigger than me, but I was strong. I fought him off, letting that dark, bitter edge consume me as I pictured last night in my head, saw Jill realizing the squirrel, crying. I flashed back to Lissa, when we had been at the academy…the rabbit. Things had changed so much since then. And yet this had propelled me back into that sort of déjà vu feeling. All the rage that I felt for Ambrose was nothing towards the sympathy I'd felt towards Lissa. Thinking of her calmed me down the tiniest bit, and I allowed myself to be moved by Dimitri, who pulled me to the other side of the room and wrapped his arms around me to keep me from moving.

I watched as Tasha leapt off the bed and ran toward Ambrose, who was sitting up, his hand pressed against his eye. She dropped onto her knees at his side and placed a hand on the back of his head. "Are you okay?" Her voice was slightly frantic, which I thought a little odd. It was only a punch. Tasha was a strong woman; a right hook shouldn't have freaked her out so much. And yet, she was acting like I had killed him.

"Get up!" I yelled at him. "Get up and fight me!"

Ambrose stood up, shaking his head. I could see the red mark where my fist had collided with his face, providing me with a small measure of satisfaction. "I'm not going to fight you, Rose. Would you just listen to me a moment?"

"Why should I?" My voice was full of that vehemence again. I moved towards Ambrose, but Dimitri held me still.

"Just listen?" He asked. I didn't say anything, and he took it as his excuse to go on. "I'm sorry. I should not have broken into Lissa's room. I should have just asked you. But I needed to take it."

"Why did you need it?" Christian asked, his voice strong and loud but doubtful. I had forgotten about both Christian and Jill being there.

"I know this doesn't make much sense, but there are two wills. One is already public. It says that everything is Nathan's. I don't know who made that one, but the other one that Tasha and I signed, nobody knows about. If they find it now, or if word gets out, Tasha and I will be in a lot of trouble."

"So you stole it to cover your ass?" I sneered. "That's real nice of you. Who cares if the queen's wishes aren't honored, as long as you don't get in trouble?"

"I'm not worried for myself. But I can't have Tasha going to prison."

"Why not? I've been there. It won't kill her, especially since you guys didn't do anything wrong up until you decided to steal."

Tasha stood up from where she had been kneeling on the ground. "We're giving it back, Rose. That's why I called Dimitri here. I needed his advice."

I turned to look at Dimitri, who only gave me a knowing glance. "Well, I hope you came to a conclusion."

"We did." Tasha nodded. Ambrose's head shot up, and he looked over at Tasha with wide eyes.

"No, we didn't."

"Well, I did. We're going to give the will back to Rose and let her decide if she wants to bring it to the attention of the high court. It's a legitimate will. The other one is wrong, and if there is something going on there, it needs to be brought into the light."

"I won't let you go to jail!" Ambrose said insistently.

Tasha laughed. "If it comes to it, I wouldn't be in jail long."

"Yeah, but…" he didn't need to finish his sentence, because Tasha knew what he meant. She smiled.

"We have eight months to worry about that." She assured him. My anger had more or less diffused, and I was slowly having it replaced with confusion. Tasha must have noticed, because she gave me a shy smile, and turned to Christian. "I guess now's as good a time as any to tell you all the news." She looked to Ambrose, who looked almost frightened. "I'm pregnant!"

**a/n: sadly, another shorty. i've had to work every day this week, so it's been really hard. i've got tons of great ideas, but i haven't been able to write things so much lately :( I'm not even sure what to say to you guys, because it's not exactly said who her baby-daddy is, but I think it's pretty obvious. There's a reason I haven't said who it is though. i know, the pregnancy cliche. it's meant to play a larger role in the story though, so fear not my faithful readers. i was personally glad rose couldn't control herself. ambrose has been bad, and he deserved to be punched in the face. =D Tell me your thoughts **

**love, bc**


	34. Chapter 34

My world stopped. And my heart stopped. All the motion in the room came to a standstill as we stared at Tasha. She was pregnant? She couldn't be. I hadn't even known she was involved with anybody. I was still reeling from recent events, the adrenaline pumping into my blood like a waterfall. And so logic was a luxury that was out of my reach. I wanted to cry, but I wouldn't allow them that satisfaction. My anger made a comeback and I shook myself free of Dimitri's hold, which had turned slack.

My fears had been right after all. I was right to be jealous of Tasha. She was pregnant. Dimitri had played me for a fool. I would have never thought him capable of something like that, and yet…A million foul thoughts popped into my mind. When I was gone were they shacking up, playing house? Had he been with her last night before he found me? How long had they been together?

I felt like Tasha and Dimitri had just plunged a stake right through my heart. I had saved him. I had done everything I could to bring him back to me. Or back to Tasha. I was torn in between feeling hurt and feeling angry. But I couldn't let them see that. I forced myself to smile, and while I have never considered a theatrical career, I did a pretty damn good job of acting excited.

"Congratulations!" I said, the first to speak. I was amazed to hear the level of joy I had been able to force into my tone.

Tasha was beaming. I wasn't really paying attention to anybody else in the room, so I didn't see Christian's reaction. Or Ambrose's. But as he went over to Tasha and grabbed her hand, the pieces slowly began to fall into place. Ambrose with the bite marks on his neck. Rhonda's exclamation of his secret girlfriend. The way Tasha had reacted when I punched Ambrose in the face. "Oh." I said out loud. Nobody looked at me, though, because Christian spoke.

"How long have you known?"

"Only a week or so." Tasha said, smiling at Ambrose.

"Wow." I said, unsure whether it was an example of my relief or surprise. "So you don't know yet about names or anything?"

Of course they didn't know that kind of stuff. They had only just found out. But I needed to keep talking to cover up for the fact that I had thought Dimitri had been the one Tasha was with. I was going to make an idiot of myself, but it had to be done. I couldn't let them know I'd thought Dimitri would do something like that. I should have known better. He was above that kind of thing.

"Not this early." Tasha laughed.

"How long have you been together?" Christian asked.

Tasha exchanged a look with Ambrose. "A couple of months."

I tried to hide my shock at that. The whole thing was really strange, especially after I had thought Dimitri had gotten Tasha pregnant. I was happy it was Ambrose, rather than Dimitri, but it was still odd. There was a notable age difference between Tasha and Ambrose. I realize that doesn't mean much coming from me, but Tasha is at least a few years older than Dimitri, and I think Ambrose is two or three years younger than Dimitri. It was really strange in the first place for a male dhampir and a moroi woman to end up together. Dhampir women were the ones that were often sought after by Moroi. Dhampir women put up with the moroi fooling around with them so that we could prolong the creation of our race, but it was odd for the situation to be reversed.

"Wow." I said again, thinking all this over in my head. Tasha laughed. I was feeling high with relief now. "Congratulations, guys! I think we should let you guys talk." I said, looking at Christian. While Tasha was not Christian's mother, she was the closest thing he had to it. She had been there for him, and he certainly had a healthy respect for her. I wasn't sure how it would make him feel, but they deserved a chance to talk among themselves.

Ambrose watched me warily as I moved past him to the door, Jill by my side. "Here." He turned to grab something off the stand. He handed it to me, meeting my eyes. "I'm sorry I stole this."

"Yeah." I agreed. I wasn't about to tell him it was ok, but at least I wasn't springing for him and wrapping my fingers around his throat.

"What were you saying about a squirrel?"

"Oh. Did you leave me a nice little gift last night?"

Ambrose frowned. "No. Sorry…"

I sighed. It made sense that he wouldn't have left the squirrel. He really wasn't much of the violent type. "Don't worry about it." I took the will, and Jill followed me back out the door.

"What a cute couple." Jill remarked. I tried reading her face, to see if she was being serious. Apparently she was.

"Kind of strange, if you ask me."

"No. They'll have a cute baby."

"I don't agree."

Jill frowned, squinting at me. "You don't agree with what?"

"That they'll have a cute baby." I looked at Jill, worried momentarily for her mental health.

"I suppose they would. He's really good looking, and she's beautiful."

"It's just too weird to be cute." I shrugged, glancing over to gauge Jill's expression. I stopped cold when I saw who was behind her shoulder. Lissa was standing there. And yet, it wasn't Lissa. She was pale and translucent, not solid. "Jill, go back to Lissa's room." I commanded without much thought on the matter.

"Are you ok?" Jill asked, looking at me. Her face showed confusion and fear.

"Yeah. I forgot something. Go on."

"Alright…" Jill said hesitantly. "But if there's another squirrel, I'm never leaving your side again."

I dismissed her with a wave of my hand and she disappeared. I took a few steps toward Lissa, who was smiling. I felt tears burning in my eyes. "Oh, shit, Liss. You're not…?"

Lissa looked at me, confused. "I'm not what?"

"You're dead?" I felt like there was a rock in place of my heart, and a cold tingling quickly covered my body. Lissa laughed.

"No! I'm not dead, Rose!"

"You look like a ghost…" I said, taking in her translucent appearance. She looked much like Mason and the queen had when they had appeared to me.

Lissa was jubilant. "It's called projection! I just learned it."

I eyed her, untrusting. "I guess it's a spirit thing, huh?"

"One of the spirit users we met taught us. Her name is Katia."

I nodded, trying to acclimate myself to seeing Lissa looking like this. "So, you're not really here, right?"

Lissa laughed. "Nope. I'm still in Russia."

"So then can everybody see you? Because Christian misses you."

"Only you can see me." Lissa explained. I nodded.

"One of those shadow kissed things, right? Because of the bond?"

"No. Any spirit user can do it to anybody. You just have to tie yourself into their thoughts. I'm focused on you right now, so you're the only one who can see me."

"Well, if that's the case we should probably go somewhere else, so nobody sees me talking to myself."

Lissa smiled, and I considered where we would go. The answer was obvious, though. My room was the only place where nobody would see us. I hadn't been there in a couple days, but I still had the key on me out of habit, so we went there. I sat down on my bed and Lissa took a seat next to me. I couldn't stop staring at her. I wanted to hug her, but I knew it would be like holding the air.

"This is so weird." I told her.

"Not for me. This feels like I'm really here." She gestured around the room with her hands.

"Tell me what's been going on over there. Adrian didn't visit last night. I'm out of the loop."

"Oh." Lissa's face looked closed-off for a moment. "Nothing's been going on. Just meeting more people like us. The Belikov's are really great!'

"Something's wrong," I said knowingly, reading that hesitant look on her face. I tried to reach out for the bond and figure out what was going on in her mind, but it was cloudy. I couldn't get a hold on her thoughts. I figured it must be something to do with the projection. "What's going on, Lissa?"

"Nothing. Everything is going great! We're getting a lot more out of this then we thought we would."

"I know you're lying to me. I can't figure out what you're hiding, but I know you well enough by now to see straight through that act. What's going on? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, Rose-"

"What about everybody else? Adrian, Eddie? Is my mom OK? Abe?"

Lissa sighed. "I'm only telling you because you'll find out anyways." She paused, looking at the floor. "It's Adrian."

My breath caught in my chest. "Is he ok? Did he get hurt?"

Lissa shook her head, and her face was full of such compassion I feared the worst. "Oh, God." I muttered. Lissa looked up at me, alarmed.

"He's ok." She said quickly. I sagged in relief. I don't know why I was jumping to all these conclusions today, but I really had to stop.

"What's wrong then?" I asked, my voice a lot less frantic then before.

"Well, I told you how Katia taught me projection? She taught Adrian too." I nodded, signaling her to go on. "We've been working on it for days. I just now learned how to do it. Adrian figured it out yesterday."

I could understand now, if she was feeling jealous or upset. Lissa worked hard, and while she hadn't been able to master dream-walking, she was much better at healing then Adrian was. She needn't feel jealous because he had learned how to do projection first. I opened my mouth to make those thoughts known, but Lissa beat me to the punch, rushing into her next sentence. "He visited you last night. And you and Dimitri were…" Her face turned red, and she let the sentence hang. She didn't need to say what Dimitri and I were doing. I knew that well enough.

I swallowed, my stomach beginning to feel queasy. "Adrian saw me and Dimitri?"

"Yeah…"

"Oh." I had nothing better to say. I met Lissa's gaze. "Shit."

"I don't know when he'll visit you again, but I think you guys need to talk."

"Yeah, I'll say." I whispered, caught up in my own web of thought. I looked up at her, guilty. "How did he take it?"

Lissa looked away, avoiding my eyes. "Don't worry about it, Rose. Just do what's best for you."

"Lissa…" I warned, "I'll find out anyways."

"Don't press the issue." She practically begged me. "He did stupid things because he was hurting. He didn't mean them."

"Tell me what happened." I demanded, putting as much force behind my voice as I could manage.

"He drank. A lot. And he smoked…" She paused. "A lot."

"That's not so bad." I said, feeling momentary relief flutter over me. But I could tell that there was more. "What else?"

"He just went out and acted stupid. Nothing important."

"Something happened." I said. "You have to tell me."

"He went out looking for a fight. And, well, he got one."

"Of course he did." I swallowed, attempting to choke back my guilt. "Is he ok?"

"He's fine." Lissa smiled, but the tone of her voice suggested there was something more. "Katia healed him already."

I wasn't too happy to hear any mention of Katia, but I suppose I really had no right to be jealous. Particularly if Adrian had seen me with Dimitri. "And?"

"And he slept with her." Lissa said quickly, the words coming out in a rush. She spoke so fast I almost didn't know what she had said. I blinked.

"Slept with who?"

Lissa bit her lip, apparently debating whether or not to tell me. "Katia."

**a/n: silly rose, jumping to all these silly conclusions. ok, i feel like i keep pushing the limits and i keep half-expecting that you guys are going to call me out on this and say something like "oh, yeah right! like that'll ever happen!" but then you don't. you are so accepting of everything, and i am so grateful for it! i only hope that you guys don't hate me now for this chapter. i love you all so much, and i am amazed that we've hit 300. 316, I think was the count before i posted this chapter. thanks so much for your support. as always, let me know what you're thinking :) i love to hear it!**

**love, bellec**


	35. Chapter 35

I wasn't going to let Lissa know just how upset that made me. "Good. So then, we've both moved on."

Lissa eyed me distrustfully. "Yeah." Her eyes told me she didn't believe it. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Well, how have you been?" I asked, attempting to switch subjects and take some heat off of the topic of Adrian. "I want to know what you've been doing."

Lissa shrugged. "We've really been working on projection. Abe and Eddie found-" She stopped speaking suddenly. "Sorry, Rose. I can't do this for long. It takes a lot of energy and I'm getting tired. I'll visit again, though, but I have to see Christian too. It might be a few days."

"What?" I could see her image beginning to fade. She was becoming even more translucent then she already was. "When are you guys coming back?"

"I swear we'll be back for your trial, Rose. Be careful." She warned me. I was about to say the same of her, but she disappeared completely, leaving me alone in my room. I lay back on my bed and let a sigh escape my chest. Now that Lissa was gone, I didn't have to hide that it hurt me to hear that Adrian had been with Katia.

It was selfish and unfair, but I really didn't like the idea of Adrian being with somebody else. And what was really bothering me was the fact that I didn't know the context under which it had happened. When I had been in Lissa's head just yesterday, he'd said he didn't like her, and he'd acted like it too. But they'd had sex. Did that mean she was just another notch on the Ivashkov bedpost, or was his distaste for her a cover-up of something else? Lissa said he was drunk, and had made a mistake. I thought about that in my head.

Adrian saw me with Dimitri. Who knows what we were doing at that point, but it wasn't a good situation, because he had definitely seen us at least half-naked together. So, naturally, he would be angry, and sad. So he would spite me by turning to his old vices. He drank and smoked, and then, according to Lissa, found a fight. I didn't know for sure where he had gone, but my guess was he hadn't picked a fight with anybody in the Belikov house. He would have gone out. It sounded as though he'd gotten roughed up, but Katia had healed him. I wasn't sure if that meant she had been with him, or if she had found him. Or maybe when he got back to the house, she was still up and so she healed him. In that case, I could see it escalating. Feeling confused, beat up, angry, sad, and then drunk on top of it, I could level with the idea that her use of spirit on him might have swayed him. If he was just so happy with the tenderness she offered, he could have easily thought being intimate with her would have chased away all that pain.

I felt a little better once I reasoned with myself that Adrian didn't really like Katia. If he had, he would have waited. He claimed he really liked me, and he had never pressured me. Therefore, Katia must not have been high up on his list. I felt a little more peaceful with that knowledge in my head, even if I had absolutely no right to wish those things. I shouldn't have been hoping he had just made a stupid mistake, considering I had done the same thing. I hadn't made a mistake in my actions, though. Even if Adrian had seen us, I couldn't regret being with Dimitri. I could only wish that I could have stopped Adrian from seeing.

I was barely aware that I was falling asleep, although I should have expected it. I hadn't really gotten much sleep last night. After the physical activity, I had fallen asleep for a while, but when I woke up, I had spent the rest of the night just laying there, too happy to go to sleep again. The way his arm felt, draped across me, was too good to surrender. But now, I had nothing to keep me from that comfort. My room was starkly silent, and I hadn't turned any lights on, so it was cool darkness as well. I let myself fall asleep, not wanting to think anymore about Adrian.

I didn't dream for a while. It was a dark, peaceful sleep. And then, suddenly it was like I was waking up. Except, I was only waking into a dream. I registered my surroundings only quickly before I noticed Adrian standing a short distance away, leaning against a lamppost. I began to walk toward him, leaves crunching under foot. A cool breeze swept through my hair. Wherever we were, it was an autumn evening, by human standards. The sun seemed to be covered up by clouds, and there was nobody else around. I stuffed my hands in my pockets, not entirely suited for this chill in a tank top and jeans. "Adrian!" I called, as I headed toward him. Adrian looked up at me, his face smooth and impassive. He offered me no greeting, but instead looked back down to the ground.

"Adrian…" I was close to him now. He didn't acknowledge my presence. "I missed you." I said, for lack of anything better to say. It wasn't entirely tactful, and probably not appropriate to say, but I meant it.

"Go away, Rose. I don't want to see you."

I ignored the stinging in my heart when he said that. "Obviously you do. This is my dream."

Adrian shook his head, still not looking at me. "I thought I wanted to see you. But I was wrong."

"Don't say that," I choked, moving closer to him in an effort to gather his attention.

"It's true." He said quietly. "I don't want to see you."

"No." I shook my head defiantly, even though I knew he couldn't see that. "We need to talk."

Adrian laughed, a cold, hollow sound. I had never heard him make such a desolate, empty noise before. It scared me. "I can't talk to you right now. Leave."

"This is my dream." I said, as calmly as I could. "I can't leave."

"You can. Just wake up."

"I don't want to wake up, Adrian! I want to see you." Adrian's head snapped up so quickly he startled me. His green eyes were like the liquid form of fire. There were no tears there, but they were gleaming. I briefly wondered whether he were on some kind of drugs, but then realized that even though he was self-destructive, he wouldn't do that.

"I don't want to see you. Go away! This is my dream."

"No! Why do you want me to leave?" I was trying not to sound desperate. According to my own ears, I was failing.

"Because looking at you…" Adrian's voice trailed off. He glanced away, then looked back down at me, his eyes staring right into mine. He spoke levelly, but somehow his voice carried a dangerous, threatening edge. "Looking at you makes me want to hurt you." His words were slow and deliberate, each additional word a punch in the chest. My heart was pounding against my ribcage, and I fought to catch my breath.

"You don't mean that." I said, as much conviction as I could fake going into that simple sentence. But I believed him. The fire in his eyes was unlike anything I had ever seen from him. I didn't know, really, who he was right now.

"Yes." He said simply, giving me a slight nod to back up his assertion. "I mean that."

"You would never hurt me, Adrian." I told him calmly.

"Are you sure? Because right now, I think I would."

The threat is not what scared me. Even if he did try to hurt me, he was more or less defenseless. I had spent my whole life in combat training. Adrian was no match for me. But I wouldn't fight him either. What scared me was this behavior. In all the time I had known him, he had never said anything like that. He had never looked at me this way before. It was making my heart ache. "We need to have an adult conversation." I said insistently, ignoring his question.

"I'm not in the mood right now, thanks." He said, turning to look out over the bridge at the city below us. It was abandoned down there. All the streets were empty, the lights on the buildings burned out or turned off. The wind made a trilling sound as it swept against the ground, raking dead leaves against the sidewalk.

"Please!" I abandoned any pretense of casualty or calm. I was outright begging him to listen to me.

"What do you want?" He asked. The wind carried his voice to me, as his back was turned. I moved closer to him, so that the space between us was slight. I had to get him to see reason. I couldn't let him stay mad at me.

"I'm sorry that you saw that." I said, wishing he would look at me. I reached out and grabbed his chin, forcing him to look in my direction. "I'm sorry." I repeated. Adrian jerked away from me, and I swallowed my rejection.

"You're sorry I saw you?" He asked. I nodded. "But not sorry that you did it in the first place?"

"Adrian, you need to understand-"

"No," He cut me off. "You need to understand. I thought we were in a relationship."

I was caught off guard by his statement. "We are!" In retrospect, it wasn't the best thing I could have said by way of response, but it was the first thing I could think of. Adrian laughed.

"Not anymore." He shook his head at me, like I was some silly kid. I tried to deny the tears pricking at my eyes. My mouth wavered, but I had to hold strong.

"Listen to me. We can't end things this way!"

"You _chose_ to have it this way!" He snapped, his voice full of such animosity that it made me jump. I was shaking, both with the cold and the rage that Adrian was radiating. I could only shake my head.

"No! Please talk to me!"

"I'm tired of talking to you!" He growled. "Tell my mom I'm sorry. I won't be coming home."

I felt panic seize me, dragging me under. "What do you mean?"

Adrian didn't speak. He only walked away from me. I stared after him, stunned. He must have wanted me to chase him, or else he would have disappeared from the dream altogether. "Adrian!" I screamed after him. He didn't turn, or give any indication that he had heard me. "Adrian!" I screamed again, my voice cracking. I didn't know what he meant when he's said to tell his mother he was sorry, but I feared the worst. I chased after him, breaking out into a run. He didn't increase his pace to run away from me, but only kept walking in that same manner without turning to look at me. I grabbed a hold of his jacket, pulling him back. He turned to look at me. "Don't!" I begged him, tears rolling down my face.

I would have never thought I would beg anything of Adrian. I never thought I would act so weak in my entire life. But I was desperate, his life on the pinnacle here. I couldn't let him leave, if this was the last time I would ever see him. I couldn't let him take his own life. I acted rashly, without giving it a second thought. I stood up on the balls of my feet, grabbed Adrian's hair in my hands, and pulled his lips down to mine, kissing him with a feverish intensity. He allowed me to kiss him for a few short minutes, and I thought for sure that he would give into me, melt into the moment and start kissing me back. But he didn't.

He straightened up, and in one quick motion, moved his hands to close around my wrists. With every bit of energy he had, he pushed me away from him. I stumbled backwards, stunned, the tears still coursing down my cheeks. I felt like the temperature had dropped another ten degrees. He looked at me in disgust, the rage apparent on his face. I didn't put it past him to hurt me now. But he only stared at me as if I were the most pathetic thing he'd ever seen. I probably was. "Please, don't do this! You have a lot of things to live for!"

He looked only momentarily confused. "I'm not going to kill myself." He said coldly, his words like ice. "You're not worth it."

I stared at him, processing his words. "Adrian, wait!" My voice had grown hoarse from yelling. I wiped my face, mopping away the tears that had been there, showing my weakness, marking me as foolish and childish.

I wanted to say something more savvy, something that would convince him to stay with me and talk. But Adrian beat me to the chase, leaving me with just a few words before he disappeared from my dream. "It's goodbye now, little dhampir."

**a/n: this chapter broke my heart right into two pieces. it made me so sad to write this, but rose was due for a date with reality. adrian loves her, but he isn't going to stand for this stuff. he deserves better than that. rose was being stupid, and yeah, i made her that way :) alright, let me know your thoughts, my wonderful, faithful, creative, inspiring reviewers. much love to you all! belleceline=)**


	36. Chapter 36

I lay on my bed, curled up atop the mattress, the bed still perfectly made up under me. The tears had dried against my skin, leaving my dark hair matted to my cheeks. I didn't pay any attention to it, though, as I brought my knees to my chest, telling myself just to keep breathing. I hurt in a way I had hurt only once before; when Dimitri had told me his love faded, I thought I couldn't imagine a pain worse that that. Whether this was worse or not, I was unsure, but it was at the very least the equivalent of that pain.

The tears had stopped when I made myself quit it. I was being pathetic, crying my eyes out over this. I had to stop, and so I told myself over and over again, until I did stop. That didn't keep me from moping however, and I lay on my bed, too listless to move a muscle. Crying had taken up all the stores of energy I had, and after the roller-coaster of the last twenty-four hours, I was feeling depleted of all my strength. Even in my sleep, I hadn't gotten any rest. That could hardly be healthy for me.

I don't know how long I lay on my bed, prisoner of my own confused emotions. I didn't look for the time, and I was barely even aware of the passage of it as I lay there. Minutes ticked by in the space of seconds, and hours seemed to pass before I was aware of it. I was brought out of my reprieve when somebody knocked on my door. I didn't care enough to get up and see who was there, so I lay on the bed, waiting for the knocking to cease. It didn't stop though; It just kept going, on and on, and even putting a pillow over my head couldn't block out the incessant sound. I reluctantly dragged myself off the bed and shuffled to the door.

Dimitri stood there, but he didn't let himself in until I moved aside to allow him entrance. He walked in without a word, going to stand against the wall. He seemed to be back in his formal guardian mode again, as he stood there, rather than taking a seat on the bed. I closed the door behind me, trying to think of something to say. I didn't need to, though, because Dimitri had something in mind. "Lissa said I should find you."

"Lissa came to you?" I asked, surprised.

Dimitri shook his head austerely, the picture of severity. "She went to Christian. Christian came and found me. Nobody's seen you all day, Rose."

I gestured to the bed, swallowing. "I fell asleep."

"I know what happened with Adrian." He said, dropping the titles, and the pretense that he cared about them. "Are you ok?"

"Of course I am." I lied, looking away from him.

"He was scared he hurt you." Dimitri said, uncrossing his arms. He took a few steps toward me and reached out his gentle hands, grabbing my wrists and turning them around, inspecting them. I didn't know what he was looking for at first. Then I remembered when I had tried to kiss Adrian. he had grabbed my wrists and threw me back. I looked at them too, but there was nothing there.

"Adrian was scared he hurt me?" I asked for some clarification. I looked up into Dimitri's eyes, and I could see the anger smoldering there. "He didn't hurt me." I said, shaking my hands loose of Dimitri's hold.

"Did he try to?" Dimitri asked, his jaw set in a rigid line. I could see that his muscles were tensed.

"No!" I said, exasperated. "Of course not!"

"Lissa said he pushed you. You're fine, then?"

I looked at him seriously, searching for any indication that he was not one hundred percent furious. There was no such thing there. I was certain if Adrian had been around, Dimitri would have found him and knocked him out, beating that pretty face of his. I closed my eyes, trying to alleviate the burning.

"I am fine." I sighed. I felt like there was something that needed to be said, but I didn't know what it was.

"We made a mistake, Roza." Dimitri said slowly. I tried to look for his eyes, but he was avoiding my gaze.

"What mistake?" I asked, my voice going slightly high-pitched as a frantic note made it's way into my tone.

"Last night." It was all he said. It was all he needed to say.

I shook my head violently. "Don't say that." I warned, biting my lip. It wasn't a mistake. It had been the right thing for us. "It wasn't."

Dimitri looked at me sadly, his mouth a straight line. His eyes burned still, but there was something else in there, and I didn't like what it was. "We shouldn't have done that. We aren't right for each other. Not anymore."

"Don't say that!" I yelled, my fear grabbing me, threatening to choke the life out of my chest. My heart was pounding in double time. "You said last night that we will always find our way back to each other! You told me our fates were entwined!"

Dimitri's hand was in my hair, his fingers weaving through it as though he were trying really hard not to let go of me. I didn't want him to. "They are. But maybe not in this way. Maybe this isn't supposed to be our life. We're dedicated to other people. We knew long ago that we could never have one another in this way. We ignored that, and it's only made things harder for you."

I was feeling slightly hysterical. I wasn't sure whether I should laugh or cry. "If it doesn't hurt, it's not worth it." I told him, my voice low, in danger of cracking.

Dimitri smiled, but it was an empty gesture, not the prize I valued so much. "It's not supposed to hurt you like this."

"It's not supposed to be easy!" I countered.

"Yes, it should be. It shouldn't make you hurt. It shouldn't leave you confused like that. You're supposed to just know."

"I know!" I yelled. "I know that I love you. I know that I need you in my life!"

"I'm not good for you. You met your match with Adrian. He can give you everything I could only dream of, Roza. You need to patch things up with him and let me go." His face was completely serious. I shook my head, trying to get a hold on what he was saying.

"No. You don't know what you're saying." I laughed, a wild sound that almost scared me.

"I'm not the one for you. He can be everything you would ever need out of this life."

"You are all I will ever need!" I pressed myself closer to him, my eyes locking onto his. "I don't want anything else."

Dimitri sighed, looking like his words were taking great effort out of him. "Sometimes you have to set aside your desires and do what is best."

"He's not best." I insisted, wrapping my hands around his neck so that he couldn't look away from me again. If the eyes were the window to the soul, then I was pulling back the curtains to let him see just how much I loved him. I couldn't survive if he was going to do this to me. We had been through so much; Each trial was another reason why we were meant to be together. We had overcome all of those hurdles, and we could get past this one too.

"He can give you things I can't." Dimitri repeated softly. He didn't want to believe in the words he was saying, but he did. I shook my head. "You'll be secure with him. He was money to support you."

"I don't need to be supported. I can do that myself!"

"He can give you an easy life. You could be his guardian, and it would make you the best for the job."

"I wouldn't be a fair guardian if I cared for him as anything more than my charge." I replied desperately.

"You wouldn't be a fair guardian if you cared for anybody more than you cared for your charge. He would be number one to you."

"Lissa is my charge!" I thundered, my voice booming through the room with my sudden outburst.

"Adrian could give you children." Dimitri said, his tone quiet. It caught me by surprise, and it took me a moment to register that. I thought of Sonya's daughter, of Lissa's face when she'd seen the baby.

"I don't want children." I said. I wasn't sure whether that was honest or not, but we were in debate mode and I was only trying to refute each of his claims to get him to stop fighting me on this.

"Maybe not now. But ten years from now?"

"No." I said stubbornly.

"Twenty years?"

"No."

"You would be content to live your entire life without children?" He asked, disbelieving.

"You are all I will ever need." I promised him. Guardians didn't often have children. Blood whores sustained our race, and while they may not have been the best caregivers for the future of our race, they ensured it would still be there. I didn't need to have a child if I could count on the fact that my failure to procreate would only be a drop in the bucket.

"What if I want children?" Dimitri asked. Once again, he took me by surprise. I paused. It was not something I had considered. I had assumed that he wouldn't want any. The thought had never occurred to me that he would want children. It wasn't just that he couldn't give me children. I also couldn't give him any. Our races were incompatible. Two of us could not have a child together, only with a moroi or human.

"There are options." I said. "Adoption, surrogacy…We can always do something to get children, Dimitri. And even if we don't do that, we'll have each other. Isn't that enough?"

"It might be all we need." Dimitri agreed. "But what about that? I'm older than you, Roza. I'm not getting any younger, either. We have different things going on in our lives at this point in time."

"No. We're in this together." I said, reaching for his hand. I wrapped them together, giving it a good squeeze. "We are on the same page."

"But what about the future?" Dimitri insisted. "We are good together now. We are on the same page for now. What happens when we aren't on the same page? What happens when I want children and you aren't ready to go through with that?"

"Every couple has that problem!" I assured him.

"But not every couple will have such a hard time of it. And what if I get assigned somewhere else and have to leave?"

"I'll go with you." I said automatically. There was no question there.

"Not if your moroi stays here."

"Lissa will go too."

"With Christian and all of her kids? She can't just leave her duties to the court to travel the world with you."

"Then I'll wait for you." I promised. I had waited for him to come to his senses. I had waited for him to come back to me. I could wait again if it came down to it.

"It's not as simple as you make it sound. I've always thought I would go back to Russia."

"Then you can go back. With me. I already know your family. We can go together."

"You would leave Lissa?" Dimitri said, doubtful.

"She could come. She loves your family!"

"And Christian would go with her?"

"If he loves her and wants to be with her, then yes." I said. I was fairly certain those two were planning on being together long term. Russia would be a great place to raise children. All of Dimitri's family had turned out exceptional. I was sure Christian could get used to it over there.

"You think they would abandon this court life? Lissa has duties as the Last Dragomir."

"Jill could fulfill them." I said. "She is the last one, not Lissa."

"You don't see that this is going to be hard. It's not as picture perfect as you make it sound."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there. Please don't make any stupid decisions just yet. I need you. And I want you. And right now, we need to focus on the present." Dimitri looked ready to fight me some more, but he held back whatever protests were on his lips as I wrapped my arms around him, casting off all the grief I had felt at my earlier confrontation with Adrian. "We need to clear my name."

**a/n: ok... I'm sure right now you are all foaming at the mouth, ready to hunt me down and kill me because dimitri is being an idiot. but you have to admire the fact that he is being an idiot out of love. he's honestly trying to consider what is best for rose and putting that above his own emotions, which earns him brownie points in my book! so, last night i went bowling. it was hot out all day, and then on the way back the sky decided to rip in two and it POURED! i got home and was in the door for two minutes before the electricity went out. i lit all kinds of candles and wrote the old fashioned way, and i loved it; it was nice and relaxing. for the first two hours. soon it got too darkto see what i was writing, and my hand began to cramp up. so i went to bed. the electricity came back at two, when i was snuggled up with eeyore, so if you're wondering why you didn't get an update last night, blame hurrican season! :) alright, tell me what you guys think. i know you'll probably be mad that dimitri was being stupid, but i'll admit this was sorta a filler chapter. more action comes in the next few. tell me your thoughts...they're worth another chapter ;) much love, people**

**xo, bellec**


	37. Chapter 37

It decided to rain that night. Rain, I think, being an understatement. The sky opened up and poured out all of it's tears. The walls shook whenever thunder boomed, and lightning forked the sky periodically. I sat in Lissa's room with Jill, Christian, and Dimitri. I was pretending to be strong, pretending that I wasn't hurting from my argument with Adrian. I was still worn out from the tears, and I really didn't want to do much of anything, but I had to get my mind off of him. And I had to do something that would help me, since I'd been neglecting the fact that I was the prime suspect in a murder and treason case. I had sat back and let other people dictate my future far too long; It was time to take action on my own behalf. Only problem was, we didn't even know where to begin.

We were a motley crew at best. Christian was still brooding over the knowledge that his aunt was going to have a child by some Dhampir he didn't really know. Jill was absorbed by the rain, fascinated with watching the lightning in the sky. Dimitri kept watching me, giving me that worried look, because he knew me well enough to see that I was not entirely OK. And my thoughts kept turning back to Adrian. But I had to focus.

"We know that there are two wills." I said, the first person to speak in a while. They all looked up at me, surprised.

"I'm so glad you know how to count, Rose." Christian mocked. "If only you could count higher than two, you'd realize you've already said that about ten times."

I gave him the most evil look I could manage before going on. "One is real, therefore the other must be fake."

"How are you so sure?" Christian asked. "What if one is more recent than the other? What if they're both real, one's just out-dated?"

"Even if that is true," I made it obvious that I didn't think it was. "Only one will be honored. We need to look at this from an investigative standpoint."

"Ok, sherlock, what have you got?" I looked up at Christian. If looks could kill, he'd be dead by now.

"Look at the wills. One leaves Adrian with all the queen's money, Nathan with her seat on the Royal Court, Lissa with God-knows-what, and me with a bunch of classified letters. The other leaves everything to Nathan."

"Way to state the obvious." Christian muttered. I looked at Dimitri, and he could see the warning in my eyes. I wanted him to be ready. If I tried to hurt Christian, I would need him to be able to react quickly. With my mood as dark as it was, I wouldn't put it past myself to jump on him and start punching next time he made another snide remark.

"Who stands to gain the most from either will?" I asked. Jill looked over at me, and I returned her look, giving her permission to speak.

"I think Nathan would get the most benefit from the queen dying if the court-honored will were true." She said, her voice timid. But it made sense.

"And if it weren't true…" I prompted.

"Then he has the most to lose." Jill finished, looking proud of herself.

"And if the will Christian found were the real one, then nobody stands to gain everything. The share is equal, split between four people. The blame if that one were false would also be split between four people."

Dimitri was smart, exceptional even, but he couldn't see where I was going with this. "You mean six? Tasha and Ambrose signed that one as witnesses."

"And somebody would have had to bear witness to the other will, too. But when it is discovered one is fake, the heat won't be on the witnesses. Say the one Christian found is fake. What do Tasha and Ambrose have to gain from that will? Nothing. The heat will fall on us. Same thing with the other will. Whoever signed it wouldn't be someone who would seem to gain anything from Nathan's inheritance. All the heat would fall on Nathan."

"But then why would anyone risk it?"

"Because they aren't smart enough to see that it's their ass on the line." I said, happy that the pieces were coming together for me. "Tasha and Ambrose were worried about going to jail if the court won't honor the version they signed. But they wouldn't be under suspicion. I would. And Adrian."

"I don't get it." Jill said quietly. I looked around at the faces of my friends, and I could tell they were thinking things similar to what she had just voiced.

"If Nathan's will is the fake one, and I'm pretty sure it is, then whoever signed it as the witness was manipulating him. If the will was discovered to be fake, Nathan would be locked up. He would take the fall. But I bet Nathan didn't think that. He probably thought that whoever signed the will would take the fall."

"Who signed the will?"

"I don't know." I frowned. I hadn't even known about the second will until this morning when Dimitri had told me about it. But I could still speculate.

"Daniella stands to gain the most from setting Nathan up." Christian mused.

I couldn't contain my laughter. "Daniella? She wouldn't do something like this. She's smart, but not manipulative."

"Who else would do that?" Jill asked.

"Who is manipulative?" I clarified.

"Maybe one of Nathan's guardians." Christian proposed. Dimitri shot him an angry look.

"No." I dismissed the idea. "It would be somebody closer to him. Somebody closer to the crown. Another royal."

"Victor Dashkov?" Jill suggested. She was trying to be helpful, and I was grateful, but I didn't believe that he knew Nathan all too well. I nodded for Jill's benefit and sighed.

"I know." Christian said. His voice still had it's usual mocking quality, and so I was ready to dismiss the idea before he even said it. But when he opened his mouth, it was actually something plausible. "Damon Tarus."

As I thought about the idea and let it sink in, my excitement started to grow. It was a workable idea. Damon had been a lawyer; he would know that the heat would fall on the person designated in the will. He could have manipulated Nathan into the belief that it was risk free. After all, with his high status as a lawyer, who would suspect him of doing anything underhanded? Add in the fact that he had been related to the family of the Queen by marriage, and he would not be suspect at all. It would be easy for them to believe that they could get away with whatever they wanted off the premise of their Royal blood and status. As a lawyer, it was also no stretch that he would have access to legal documents. He could have made that will up in his office, doctoring it to make it look official. He would know better than most what an official will looked like. I recalled how he had slammed his laptop shut when I went to his office. I hadn't thought much of it then, but in light of my recent suspicions, it was a mark in my favor.

"That's it!" I exclaimed, excited. "I wouldn't put that past him!" I looked at Dimitri. He seemed hesitant, clearly not as excited by the prospect as myself.

"Ok, let's say that were true." He said, no indication of conviction in his voice. "How would you prove that? Damon is dead."

"I remember." I said coldly. I didn't intend that coldness for Dimitri, but the mention of Damon being dead only served as a reminder that Mia was gone too. Her death was still recent, a wound that hadn't healed. "There's bound to be something in his office that will incriminate him."

"His office? His office is a crime scene. Never mind the fact that you can't get in there, it's not a good place for you to be seen."

"Nobody will be there at night." I reasoned. "I'll go now. Nobody will see me, and it will give me all the time I need to find something important. Besides, who's going to go out in this rain?"

"Don't think about it, Rose." Dimitri said warily. But his voice was solid, like there was no room for changes. "I'm not going to let you get out there and do something that will only hurt you."

"This won't hurt me!" I insisted. "I need to go get whatever I can. If we can prove that Damon and Nathan were falsifying documents, then it might give us a bigger window. Maybe that's not all they're capable of! Maybe they killed the queen!" I was standing, fire burning in my veins at the possibilities. Even the tiniest indication that they were involved in underhanded dealings could open up a door to other ideas. This was the first step in clearing my name, and I was going to take it.

Dimitri stood as well. "I can't let you risk something like that."

I fixed him with a hard look. "My life is not yours to control." I told him. "I am going to do what is best for me. Whether you help or not is up to you."

"Rose…" I crossed my arms, stubbornly. He wasn't going to break through my walls this time. I loved him, yes. I would do anything for him, yes. But this was about me. This was my shot to call. I wouldn't let him hold me back from this. "Fine. I'm going with you."

I nodded, looking to Christian, who was also on his feet. "Wait." I told him. "You need to stay here with Jill."

Christian's expression turned sour at the idea of being on babysitting duty. "Jill's a big girl. She can take care of herself here."

"Did you forget about the squirrel incident?" I reminded him. Dimitri looked at me, inquiringly, and I made a mental note to fill him in on that. "Somebody is breaking into this room. Two somebody's, since Ambrose got in here to steal the will. You would leave her unprotected?"

"You're the guardian, Rose. You should be looking after her."

"I have to look after myself, just this once." I told Christian. "This is Lissa's little sister. If you want to leave her here alone, you can deal with the consequences. The guilt can hang over your head."

Jill's face aptly displayed her irritation. "I'm right here, so can we quit pretending I'm not? I'll be fine. You guys go ahead, and I'll wait here like a helpless little girl."

"Jill…" I sighed. "I don't want you to wait here alone."

"Nobody knows who I am. It won't make a difference. The worst that will happen is somebody will come in and tell me I'm not allowed to be in Lissa's room."

"I agree that you shouldn't stay here by yourself." Dimitri said, making Jill turn pink. It probably made her feel incapable, having him more or less command her to stay there.

"So then I'll come." Jill suggested. "I could even fight off the rain and you guys won't get wet."

"Jill, you are staying here. But not alone."

"Well, then I could have Jesse come over." I looked at Christian, making my point. I'm sure that even without some kind of bond, he could hear my thoughts. _Would you rather her stay here and invite Zeklos over_? Christian grimaced.

"Fine. I'll stay here with jailbait."

"Don't give me that!" Jill said, saucily. "I don't want you to stay here any more than you do."

"We'll be back soon. Try not to kill each other." I begged, my eyes falling on Christian. He stuck his hand up in the OK symbol, and I was quick to get out the door before they could change their minds. I explained the whole squirrel situation to Dimitri as we headed out the building. "That's why I don't want her being alone."

"Somebody is threatening Jill?" Dimitri asked, giving me a sideways glance.

"No. Somebody is threatening me. And I think I know who it is."

"Victor?"

"Bingo. You remember those dead animals he left on Lissa's bed when you were her guardian?"

"I thought you said that was him trying to trick her into using spirit?"

"It was." I agreed.

"So what's his motive this time?"

"To let me know he's here." I suggested. "Or else to let me know he set me up. The necklace, and now a squirrel? Maybe he wants to talk to me or something."

"Maybe it was meant for Jill." Dimitri said. I was about to ask him what he meant by that, but we had reached the exit of the apartment building. We would have to run through the onslaught of rain to get to Damon's office as dry as possible, and that would leave no room for idle chit chat.

We exchanged a knowing glance and Dimitri flung the door open. We ran out into the night. I wasn't really worried about being seen. Most moroi and their guardians were in bed by now, and nobody sensible would be out in this inclement weather. The sun was pretty much gone between the clouds and the rain, so even those who were accustomed to staying up late would be hiding inside. We ran through the rain, dodging the torrential downpour as best we could. The rain made the ground slick, and so we had to be careful of our footing. We were both in excellent shape, despite our lack of conditioning. I looked over at him as I ran, longing for the training sessions I had once despised. When this was all over, I would have to ask him if we could try those practices again.

My lack of attention cost me. I missed the fact that the Earth had softened, and I slid into the mud, falling face first. Dimitri stopped and waited for me as I picked myself up off the ground. Through the cascade of rain I couldn't see his face, but I was sure he must be laughing. As I was righting myself, I noticed something jutting out of the ground. My curiosity overwhelmed my better judgment, and I reached out for it with both hands. The rain had softened the Earth enough to make my removal easy.

I cleared the mud away from the spot and gave it a firm tug. It came free of the ground, and I held it up to see what it was. A fork of lightning touched down close to me, illuminating the sky enough for me to see the object clearly. I should have known what it was by the feel of it in my hand, the way it's contours fit perfectly into my palm, but I was so surprised to see what it was that I dropped it. Dimitri had doubled back to me by now, and his curiosity got the better part of him too. He bent down and retrieved the object from the ground, holding it up so the rain could wash the mud away. His eyes connected with mine when he could see clearly what it was, and the unspoken question between us hung in the air.

Dimitri handed it to me wordlessly, and I could only stare at it in astonishment, turning it over in my hand. I could feel the pattern etched near the top as I ran my finger over it. A nausea planted itself in my stomach as I held it. I didn't concern myself with questions. I pocketed the object and we ran the rest of the way to the shelter Damon's office would provide.

Once we got to the office, the doors were still unlocked. Since the whole first floor was only a lobby, there was really no need to lock the doors leading in. The only doors that needed locking were the individual doors leading to separate offices. I flicked the light on and saw it dance off of the silver. I looked up at Dimitri distrustfully, affirming the question he hadn't yet asked. "It's my stake." 

**a/n: i'm so tired, i'm gonna leave it at that ;) tell me your thoughts and you know i am happy to here them. love, bellec**


	38. Chapter 38

The last time I had seen my stake it had been in a plastic bag at my hearing, in the hands of Iris Kane. My stake had been produced, drawing forth the prosecution's so-called 'hard evidence'. My stake alone may not have been enough to push this to trial, but for the fact that my fingerprints were all over it. Naturally, as it was my stake, it would have my fingerprints all over it. But the catch-22 was that my fingerprints were the only set on it. Of course, Abe and I knew that was hardly sufficient. It didn't take a genius to figure out that if they wanted to get away with murder, they needed to wear gloves.

I could not imagine why my stake would be outside in the mud. Because it was their most coveted evidence, you would think that they would have it locked up in a safe somewhere with a few guardians planted in front of it. They certainly wouldn't put it past me to try and destroy evidence. And yet, I hadn't done anything. I had found this, and I couldn't figure out why. Dimitri looked just as shocked as me, but he came to attention first, glancing around. "Put it away." He whispered. "We need to get in and get out. We'll worry about that later."

I nodded and stuck the stake in my pocket, feeling like I must be having some kind of dream. I didn't know what it meant, but I did have half a mind to try and destroy it, to throw it somewhere that nobody would ever find it. But even though it was incriminating for me, maybe it would be able to help me too. I could prove that the prosecution was not taking the trial seriously, at the very least.

I made my way to Damon's office on the memory of that first trip, my feet paving their own path. It was not hard to find; the crime scene tape still marked the door, a reminder not to go in there. Since nobody would dare defy guardians, the door wasn't locked. It was assumed that nobody would try to cross the tape in the first place. I moved for the light switch, but Dimitri moved quickly, stopping me from making that mistake. If anybody did happen to see the light on and choose to come investigate the fact that somebody was in Damon's office, I don't think we could get ourselves out of that. Instead, Dimitri pulled a lighter from his pocket.

My face reflected my surprise at that, but the lighter was not pointed in my direction, so he couldn't see it. Dimitri didn't smoke, so I couldn't justify the presence of a lighter in his pocket, no matter how convenient it was. I made a point to ask him about it later. Currently, I was caught up in thought, confused.

Dimitri moved first to the filing cabinets that lined the wall and I moved with him, unable to see anything if I was more than a few inches away from him. For not wanting to condone this trip, Dimitri had a fairly good idea what to do. He moved to find the cabinet that was marked with I's. When he found it, he passed the lighter to me and gave the drawer a firm tug. It came sliding out gracefully, and I moved closer to him so that he could see the names on the folders.

Illinsky, Imogen, Intrit, Iparrish, Iquin, Irlesco, Istrum, Ithenkessy, Iwricks. I looked up at Dimitri, alarmed. There were no Ivashkov's there. I moved the lighter closer, and we checked again. There was no file for the Ivashkovs.

Dimitri closed the cabinet wordlessly and stood up, thoughtful. I stood up after him, and he reached his hand out for the lighter. I let the flame disappear and dropped it into his hand. He flicked it, and as it came to life, moved to the two last filing cabinets in the row. These two were different than the others. While all the others had four large drawers, the last two were split into six drawers each. They were not marked, but Dimitri surveyed them briefly and made his move. He reached for the sixth cabinet and saw the names filed there. I bent down as well, peering at the folder tabs.

Adrian, Nathan, Tatiana, Daniella. There were more in the back, as they were an extensive family, those Ivashkovs, but the ones that I cared for were all up in the front. Dimitri pulled all four folders from the cabinet and set them on the floor. He moved over to the last cabinet and reached for the fourth drawer. I realized this was reserved for the Tarus family. Dimitri removed the files marked Daniella and Damon, and I thought how odd it was that Damon had kept a file on himself. Then again, it was odd that he kept all the royal files separate from the rest. I straightened up, ready to go, but apparently Dimitri and I were not on the same page. I thought we had everything we needed, but Dimitri moved back to the filing cabinet we had originally visited. He pulled open all four drawers until he found what he was looking for. I couldn't see the names of the people, but he withdrew three folders.

"Are you going to steal files on everybody you know?" I asked, giving him an impatient sigh. Dimitri straightened up and tucked all of the folders under his arms, seemingly done. He closed the cabinet and glanced around the office, securing the fact that we had never been there.

I had wanted to look around in Damon's computer, but that was gone. I assumed it must have been carted off as evidence, and so we would have to make do with the antique files we'd already dug up. Dimitri followed me to the door, and I let us out into the hallway, which was lit with a mellow kind of light. The light is what allowed me to read the nameplate on the office across from Damon's. I stopped short, taking it in. Iris Kane. I didn't tell Dimitri of the thoughts I was conceiving, but I moved as if guided to the door. My hand fell upon the doorknob, and I was sure that there was something on the other side that I was supposed to see.

Apparently fate didn't agree. The door was locked. I reached my hand out for Dimitri's lighter and he relinquished it, knowing what I wanted without my even having to speak a word. I flicked it on and pressed it up against the glass, hoping that would allow me to see anything. All it gave me view of were a few feet of blackness. I gave the lighter back to Dimitri. "Do you know how to break in?"

He smiled, one of those rare, genuine gestures, and I was surprised. "You would ask me that."

I frowned. "Is that a yes?"

"If I could break into that office," He mused, "I wouldn't tell you. Your fingerprints are on the door now. And the door to Damon's office. Mine are all over his filing cabinets. And I'm sure the lobby is full of muddy footprints. Isn't that enough?"

I scowled at him, more surprised than hurt. "I need to get in her office."

Dimitri shook his head.

"She was the last person to have my stake!" I hissed, not sure yelling would be appropriate in light of the circumstances. "Then it shows up outside? They're up to something!"

"Who is?"

"Iris, and Damon, and for all I know Tasha and Ambrose too!"

"Not everybody is out to get you." Dimitri said quietly. He still had that amused quality to his voice.

"It sure feels like it." I muttered. But I could tell that I wasn't going to get into Iris' office. Not tonight, at least. "Fine. Let's go back."

For all his talk of our faux pas in leaving incriminating evidence around, he didn't seem to be too worried about our fingerprints on the filing cabinet. I can't imagine why anybody would go looking for the same information we had pulled from them, and so nobody would need to know that anybody had even been in his office. The only thing that was a cause of any worry was when we got back down to the lobby and realized he was right. My mud bath had coated me in muck, and our shoes had left footprints on the floor. By some odd stroke of luck, it was really only on the mat at the entrance, and I kicked it, grinding it against the mat so that it was not obviously visible.

Dimitri nodded, seemingly approving. It didn't look like anybody had been there. The only way you would know we had even been there was if you decided to have a full-on investigation, and since prints and information had already been pulled regarding Damon's case, there was no reason for that. My eyes lingered on the spot in the lobby where I had last seen Mia, and I closed my eyes as Dimitri flung the door open.

Thankfully, we made it back to Lissa's room without incident. I didn't slip, and nobody saw us. We entered the room to Jill laying on the bed, her brown curls hanging over the edge upside down. She was watching Christian, only mildly intrigued. I wondered at first what he was doing, but when I saw all the candles scattered around the room, I figured it out. As if by answer to my mental question, Christian lit all the candles, a rush of fire dancing around the room.

I rolled my eyes. "You better not set Lissa's room on fire." I warned him. Christian smirked, and Jill jumped up to sit on the bed again, looking like she expected us to save her from boredom.

"What happened to you, Rose?" She asked, animated.

"You ditched us to go to the spa?" Christian suggested. I looked at him shrewdly. I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of knowing I had slipped.

"I'm going to change." I announced, sliding open the dresser drawer to take out dry, warm clothes that weren't covered in mud. I moved into the bathroom and made short work of changing and discarded the dirty laundry on the floor, sure to grab my stake. When I came out of the bathroom, Dimitri had laid the stack of folders on the table. They had managed to escape any damages of the weather. Christian and Jill were only looking at the files, neither making a move towards them. I slammed my stake on the table, adding it to the things we'd retrieved.

Jill looked confused, but Christian understood. He was too shocked to remember to be a smart-ass as his eyes flickered from the stake, to me, to Dimitri. "What did you do?"

"Relax." I said dismissively. "I didn't steal it."

"The hell you didn't, Rose. That's evidence." He was pointing at the stake, being sure to keep his distance, as if it was evil. I half-expected him to cross himself, but when he didn't, I decided to laugh.

"This is their golden piece of evidence." I said, picking it up. I couldn't help it; I was fascinated by it. "Why would it be outside in the mud?"

"In the mud?" Jill asked, her voice reflecting her shock.

"You found that-"

"Outside." I nodded. "In a mud puddle."

"And you didn't put it there?" Christian asked, in need of some clarification.

"No." I told him honestly. "I haven't seen it since the trial."

"Until now?" He didn't require an answer; it was meant as more of a rhetorical question anyways. Christian let loose a low whistle, looking up at me with a shake of his head. "You should have left it there."

"I couldn't just leave it!" I said, defensive. I knew Christian was right. I really should not have picked it up. Since this was the major thing they had to incriminate me, it would be a field day for the prosecution when they realized it was gone. And if they thought I stole it? I was racking up the charges against me.

"It's done now." Dimitri said levelly, cutting off Christian's comeback.

"But we need to know why it was there?"

"Are you sure it's yours?" He asked, a reasonable inquiry.

"Yes. I mean, it's not mine, but I was using it." I paused, reconfiguring my brain. "It's the one from Russia. The one you sent me!" Dimitri knew well enough which one it was, and my mention of him sending it to me reinforced how he had stalked me. I saw the guilt creep onto his face, but I couldn't reassure him right now.

"Not the one you were given at the academy?"

I shook my head. "That one's probably still in the vault in Russia. I couldn't find mine, so I took this one."

"When was the last time you used it?" Dimitri asked, thoughtful. I thought hard about that; I'd had no cause to use it at school. And at court I had kept it with me at almost all times, but I had no reason to use it. I hadn't used it at school, even in our final trials, because we'd had blunt ended stakes for safety's sake. I guess the next time I had used it would have been…

"When you kidnapped Lissa and Christian. When we attacked. I don't remember using it since then."

Dimitri looked at the ground for a moment, seemingly seeking repentance, and sighed. "What I don't get is how your fingerprints are the only ones on it?"

I shrugged. "Whoever did it wore gloves?"

"No." He shook his head. "The fingerprints would smear. They can last a long time on any surface, but on silver, if anything touches them, they'll smudge."

I frowned, thinking of all the times when Lissa and I had watched CSI when we'd run away from the academy. They always got fingerprints off of guns, which were the same surface as stakes. The detectives wore gloves, too. And they put the evidence in plastic bags, yet they almost always managed to get a good print from it. I made that known to Dimitri.

He laughed; I guess he didn't think my evidence was credible. "You're right. But a stake is different."

"How?" I asked.

"I'll show you." Dimitri said, stepping closer to me. He took the stake and smoothed my palm upwards, placing the stake right in the crook of my hand. "Now the top of it is touching your palm." I nodded, curious as to where he was going with this. "Close your hand, like you're going to use it." I did, tightening my grasp on it instinctively. "Now look. Your hand is all over that."

I frowned. "Yeah, but if you were wearing gloves…"

"If you were wearing gloves, the prints that were on it would smudge." Dimitri said. He was starting to make me feel stupid, because I had no idea what he was getting at.

"But why would they do that on a stake and not a gun?" I asked, beginning to grow frustrated.

"Think about the difference between them. A gun gets set off by a trigger. It only requires pressure of one finger. A stake takes a lot of strength to make a successful hit. You know that you have to put all your weight into it to drive it through the heart. If you put all your weight onto something, and your entirely covering that object, the chances of whatever prints were there being in tact are slim to none. That's the difference."

"So you're saying what, exactly?"

"I'm saying that something about this doesn't sit right. Even if those prints did originally come from you, how could they still be so perfect? They analyzed that evidence in less than twenty four hours."

"So somebody put my fingerprints on it?" I asked, finally feeling like I had the right idea.

"Yes. But there's another thing that bothers me."

"Which is?"

"Fingerprints last a long time."

"We already covered that." I told him, impatient.

"So why aren't mine on it as well?"

I blinked, unsure of what he meant. "Why would yours be on it?"

"Because, I sent it to you. I pulled it out of my chest with my hand and picked it up and sent it to you."

"I'd used it since then." I said dismissively. "Yours would be covered up under mine."

"I don't think they would have," He said softly. I could tell he was thinking as he spoke, which was unusual, because it seemed like he always planned everything he said before it came out. We were polar opposites in that way. "Unless you wiped the stake clean and washed it?" He looked at me for an answer.

I guess it was a little gross, but I didn't worry about cleaning my stake. If I was going to use it on someone, they weren't going to live long enough to worry about whether it was sanitized or not. "No."

"Then my fingerprints should be there. Maybe not in tact, but the analysis would show that they were there."

"Maybe they weren't prominent enough for the court to do anything about it." I suggested.

Dimitri shook his head again. "I just came back from being a strigoi. They didn't trust me, and they still probably don't." It was true; the only reason he didn't have a constant tail of guardians was that the heat with me and the queen's death had taken the spotlight from him. "They would take any chance they could get to incriminate me too, if there was the slightest evidence."

"So now what are you saying?"

"I'm not sure," Dimitri said, "But I think that the stake in your hand, the one that was found in the queen's heart, may not be the same one that was used to kill her."

**a/n: Ok, there's a reason it took three days to get this chapter out. I write as I go, and I've been really focusing on this chapter and the more detailed side of things. I try to make everything as accurate as possible, constantly referencing the books and what not. I do mess up, which I'm glad has been pointed out, because it totally went over my head that there are only twelve royal families [Thanks Panderism! :)]. That said, I worked hard to find out this information with the fingerprints, so between work, friends, the boyfriend, family, and the fact that I'll be a sophomore in college in only a week (EEK!) I've been writing when I get the chance, I promise. So I'm sorry when you guys get mad at me. It makes me sad. I do my best, and I appreciate all that you guys do, but I try to stay true to the characters and the dilemmas they're going through. I think "if i were [insert character name], then in these circumstances I would do this..." So I know it can be hit and miss. I love the constructive criticism so I know how to improve, but know that I try my hardest not to let you down! ;) Here's hoping you liked chapter thirty eight. A lot of prep went into it, and it's a little longer than most, although this note is a novel in itself. That said, I'll shut up! Oh wait, just kidding...we broke FOUR HUNDRED! You guys are AMAZING! Ok, I'm done now! =]**

**much love to you all, BelleCeline**


	39. Chapter 39

I shook my head, having a hard time understanding what he meant. "But they found it there." I protested. "It was in her heart."

"But it might not have actually killed her." Christian said. I had almost forgotten his presence in the room, because they had been quiet for so long. "It could be a decoy."

"That's stupid." I said automatically.

"Why is it stupid? If the person who did it knew what they were doing, then they would have known that they wouldn't be able to kill her using a stake without enough force. They would have known better than to use the stake with your fingerprints on it because they would get smudged. And if your prints were smudged, wouldn't they be able to tell that they weren't fresh?"

I wasn't sure how I managed to be so dense, but I still couldn't get a grasp on the knowledge. "So what you mean to say is-"

"Somebody stole your stake and took another one. They used the other one to kill Tatiana, and then took it out when she was good and dead. Then they put your stake back in her heart. Therefore your fingerprints would be perfect on it, and it would look like you did it." Christian's blunt breakdown made more sense to me than what Dimitri had been saying, and I could sort of see the connections they were making.

"Why would anybody set me up?"

"I don't know. But you were being set up from the start. If somebody just happened to find your stake out in the hallway as they were walking around and decided it was a lovely night to kill the queen, they wouldn't have left the stake in her heart. It was premeditated. And you were meant to take the fall."

"Which explains how Tatiana knew enough to write me that letter."

Christian nodded, and I looked to Dimitri to make sure we were all on the same page. He nodded also, which I assume meant that we were all in agreement. "But that doesn't explain how your prints aren't on it anymore." I said.

We all fell silent for a moment, but Christian had an answer for that. "It's not hard to put prints on an object. If this person has really got it out for you, then they could have easily gotten a dust of your prints and put them on the stake. If you do that, you need a clean surface, so they would have needed to clean the stake and wipe it off to make sure there was nothing on it before yours went on, hence the reason Dimitri's prints are M.I.A."

I looked at him, trying to think of something to say. I must have missed my fingerprinting 101 course, because I didn't know where they got this information. It all went over my head. "Why would anybody go to the trouble of cleaning it and putting my fingerprints on it? I mean, it's my stake. They stole it from my room. Isn't it obvious that mine would already be there?"

"Yeah." Christian leveled with me. "But if they didn't wear gloves when they stole it, they would have something to hide."

"Ok, I see where you're going with this." I said, finally sure I knew exactly what they were saying. "But if they weren't wearing gloves when they broke into my room, that would mean their fingerprints would be on my door."

Dimitri nodded. "We could have it checked out."

I laughed. "Who's going to come get fingerprints off my door? Not everybody is on my side, you know."

"Not everybody." Dimitri conceded. "But many people don't think you could have done it. Mostly guardians. And I may not have the best reputation anymore, but I could still pull some strings."

"Ok." I said. "Then what?"

"The stake needs re-analyzed. By somebody we trust."

I sighed. "Not a whole lot of people that I trust are capable of that kind of thing. What about your connections?"

"My connections," Dimitri began. "Are good for getting the doorknob examined. But as far as the trust part of that goes…"

I looked at him, disbelieving. Dimitri was good. He had been revered as a God. I never would connect him with anything shady. "I don't believe that."

"Of course you don't. You think I'm so innocent."

I laughed. "Because you are."

"Just because I am, doesn't mean that everybody I know is. Remember how I told you I used to be best friends with a Zeklos?"

"I recall."

"Well, the temperament runs the same in that family. He had some shady connections, and since I was his guardian, I had them too."

"Please don't tell me you sold babies on the black market or got into trafficking humans." I pleaded, only half serious. Dimitri scoffed.

"He had a gambling problem is all. He took out loans from people to support it. We never did anything bad."

"No jail-breaks or car heists?" I asked, both of which I was guilty of. He laughed.

"Nothing of the sort."

Christian and I exchanged a knowing glance.

"I don't know who could do it. Unless we have it sent to Russia and see if Abe can get somebody to figure it out?"

"I don't trust that." Dimitri said. "Maybe Abe could send somebody over here to do it?"

"Ok, I know you think he's big and bad and all, but I don't know that he could make somebody come over here to analyze a stake."

"Do you know what he's capable of?" Dimitri asked, looking at me as if I didn't know the half of it.

"Yeah, but that kind of leverage… he could pay somebody to do it, or threaten them, but…" I stopped, my mind switching into a different direction. Abe did have that kind of leverage. And I knew just who he had that kind of leverage over. "Sydney."

"Australia?" Dimitri asked. "I don't think we should send it there either."

"No, no. Sydney is my friend…kind of. And she made an open-ended agreement with Abe. I bet I could get her to do it."

"Is she capable of that sort of thing?" Christian asked. I know I had mentioned Sydney to him before.

"She's an alchemist." I reasoned, letting that stand for itself. "If she can't do it herself, I'm sure she will know somebody who can."

Dimitri seemed pleased with that information. "I'm going to make a call." He said. "See if there's anything useful in those files." He inclined his head toward the table and I nodded my understanding before he slipped out the door. I didn't like him being gone, but there was work to be done. I grabbed a folder and passed it to Jill.

"This is Daniella's file." I told her. "Mrs. Ivashkov. Let me know if you find anything interesting." Jill nodded, looking excited to be helping.

I looked through Nathan's, since he was the one I held suspect. I wasn't sure what I would find in it, but I wanted to make sure nothing got overlooked. Christian pulled Adrian's.

Nathan's file was not very thick, so I had to hope that whatever was in there was good. I flipped it open and sat on the floor, my eyes scanning the pages. There was a birth certificate and a record of footprints from when he was a baby. I also saw a passport and some receipts. The passport needed updating; the picture was from when he looked a lot younger. I disregarded the footprints, tossing them in a pile with the passport, and scanned the birth certificate.

Nathan Ivashkov was born on July 2nd, 1969 to Maria Badica Ivashkov and William N Ivashkov. I wasn't aware that Adrian had descended from the Badica's also, but royal families often tried to maintain their purity by marrying other royals. In some instances, people from the same family married to maintain their line, though that wasn't really as common in present day. It looked like Nathan had been born in Florida, of all the places, at 3:05 in the morning. None of that information was what I wanted. I cast the birth certificate aside and rifled through the receipts. Some of them were hand written on carbon copy paper, while others had been printed.

The receipts were of no particular interest to me. I really could not have cared less to see how much money he spent on gifts for Daniella. So it was with glazed-over eyes that I scanned through the pile, flicking through them without really seeing them. The one that made me stop was a simple ATM receipt. Unsure of why it had caught my eye, I looked closer at it and realized why I had stopped when I saw it. The black three digit number at the bottom jumped off the receipt tape, demanding my attention. 897. But 897 was not the amount of money that Nathan had in the bank. In front of the number was a small dash, meant as proof of a negative balance.

I almost dismissed it because I knew it couldn't be true, but as I was about to throw it back in the folder, I saw the date. June 30th. This was the most recent receipt in the pile. I laughed, garnering the attention of Jill and Christian.

"What's funny?"

"The Ivashkovs. They're in debt."

Jill remained impassive, but Christian looked doubtful. "I don't see how they could be."

"Look for yourself." I handed him the receipt.

"Damn." Christian said, his voice soft with his surprise.

I nodded and examined the receipt again. I never would have guessed that they would have a negative balance in their bank account. It was possible that they had bounced a check and been pinned with some overage fees, but I just couldn't see them having any three digit number in their account. If I had been asked to guess, it would have been a six figure number at the very least. Adrian hadn't mentioned anything, but it was possible he didn't know about this. He had his own accounts, after all. And though it was sad to think that I had more money than one of the royal families, it was good news for me. It gave me a motive for why Nathan would create a fake will. If Daniella and Nathan were experiencing financial problems, they definitely wouldn't want to broadcast that to the rest of the royals. Even though it was tragic for them, they could have seen the opportunity of Tatiana's death as a chance to redeem their monetary woes. And if they had been driven by desperation, it wasn't much of a stretch that they would do all this and keep it from Adrian, particularly if he didn't know about their empty pockets.

Dimitri returned and let himself into the room without bothering to knock. He scanned us quickly, making sure nothing was amiss. "He'll be here in three hours."

"What?" I exclaimed, surprised. "That's…sudden."

"It's best to get it done while everyone's asleep." It was true, but I still hadn't expected it. But the sooner it was done, the closer I would get to proving my innocence. "You should call your friend."

"I can't exactly call her." I had memorized Sydney's number when I was in Russia. She had made it a point to tell me that she didn't like when we left Strigoi bodies to be found. And so every time our band of rogues had killed another Strigoi in Novosibirsk, I called her with a tip off so that she could get other alchemists out to dispose of the body before anybody could wander across it. But all the excitement that had occurred since I had been back had pushed that foreign information out of my head. I had last spoken to Sydney via a secured internet connection Abe had a hand in setting up. I could always go get the computer, but I doubt that there would even be a connection anymore. "I'm going to have to call Abe to get it."

Dimitri didn't look happy about that. "You can't. If the calls from you and Abe are monitored, then a tip off could ruin everything."

"I don't know how else to get a hold of her." I said, feeling like pouting. It wasn't like I was a daddy's girl or anything, but just being told that I couldn't speak to my father didn't make me too happy. It was more of the being told what to do that bothered me, though.

"I'll call my family. There's a chance Abe could be there."

I thought about saying I would check before he called, but it wasn't guaranteed that Lissa would even be with him. Or that she would be with the Belikov's. Besides, Dimitri has said he'd spoken to his family, but I was sure he wouldn't mind talking to them again. I nodded, and Dimitri took an ancient-looking black cell phone from the pocket of his duster. He began to dial, and I closed the file for now, setting it beneath my stake for safe-keeping.

Dimitri spoke in Russian. I knew enough to recognize the greeting, and I could pick out names from the conversation. I listened for a long time, enjoying the sound of his voice speaking in that foreign language. It rolled off his tongue, perfect and smooth, and he made it sound like some kind of lullaby. I was zoning out when I heard my own name, and then Abe's. I came to attention and Dimitri handed me the phone.

**a/n: Too abrupt an ending? Sorry. I wanted to get this out for you guys tonight, and I planned on staying up with coffee as long as possible to get this one done and work on the next, but my coffee was expired, so I can't drink it and I have no energy now. :( I spent all day yesterday painting (my room is now bright yellow...BEAUTIFUL) and then today was errands and family game night, so I've been working on this as much as I could. I couldn't find a good point to stop, and the phone conversation needs some thought still, so this is what I have to offer. In my opinion it was kind of boring, but I guess it was a little informative. I'm excited to bring Sydney back a little, and also to hear from Abe, who has sadly been absent throughout my whole story! So, what are your thoughts? Which will is real? Did Nathan fake one? And are the Ivashkov's really almost 900 dollars in debt? Was it good or bad or boring? I'm not so sure, so let me know. Some say the best part of waking up is folger's in your cup. I say it is reviews in my inbox, because I LOVE them. It sets my whole day off to be great! So hook me up ;) much love,**

_**belleceline**_

**_p.s. BMW: I'm not sure how many chapters there will be. If I had to guess, I would say twenty more, but I'm a hprrible guesser. This could possibly end up being the longest fic on this site, or maybe it won't. But we've still got some good chapters to come, so stick around!_**


	40. Chapter 40

"Rose?" Abe's voice sounded amused. Our relationship was so different from what most people would perceive as normal. My mother had never told me anything about my father, except that he was from Turkey. And so when I met Abe Mazur in Russia, I would have never guessed he was my sperm donor. He'd had an unsavory reputation there, and they called him 'zmey', to mean serpent. He had tried so hard to get me to leave Baia, and I couldn't figure out what it was to him whether I was there or not. He had finally gotten me to leave Baia by making an agreement with me, to scare off the sleazy moroi that Viktoria was infatuated with. That was what launched my journey into Novosibirsk. I'd only found out Abe was my father when my mother alluded to it, but since then he'd been trying. He'd given me his scarf for the plane ride back to the academy, and he even went so far as to make open-ended threats toward Adrian. And now, he was trying to be my own personal attorney. It wasn't necessarily the kind of relationship I would have ever imagined, but it was nice. Hearing his voice again gave me an extra measure of comfort, though I would have never understood why.

"Hey, old man." I acknowledged him, using the nickname I had given him when he was only a shady old man who was far too concerned with my life. I was happy to talk to him, but I wasn't about to start calling him daddy anytime soon.

"It's nice to hear from you, little girl." Abe retorted. I didn't like being called a little girl, but it was sort of fair since I had called him old man nearly a thousand times. Maybe I should start calling him father, at least.

"Yeah." I agreed, "You too."

"But I doubt this is a social call?"

"Not really."

"It's always business with you, isn't it? Just like your father. They say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree." I laughed in spite of myself. My mother was all business too. After all, she had left me to be raised by the Academy so she could put her work first. If anything, Abe was the one who seemed a little more relaxed. He didn't really seem to have a job that tied him down, and his personality was sarcastic at best. We were a lot alike, but I would never admit that to anybody.

"I need a favor."

"Money for the mall?" He guessed. He almost sounded hopeful.

"I wish it was that easy." I muttered. "You have a deal with Sydney? The alchemist?"

"I have deals with many people." He could be so cryptic sometimes, but I already knew the answer to my own question.

"Well, I need you to get her on a plane and have her sent to court. And… make her bring along somebody who can analyze fingerprints."

I wish I could have seen Abe's face, because his voice sounded almost worried. "What do you need with the alchemists?"

I had known he would ask questions, but I was kind of hoping for a little trust on his part. "I'm not sitting back anymore. I'm going to prove I didn't kill the queen."

"You're going to get yourself into more trouble." It wasn't a question. It was a statement. I _wasn't_ going to get in anymore trouble though. I was done with that. I wasn't going to do a single wrong thing, or make the tiniest misstep.

"No, I'm happy with the amount of trouble I'm in."

"How can the alchemist help you?"

"I have some evidence that needs analyzed by somebody trustworthy." I really didn't want to tell him what was going on right now. I was sure that he was busy enough, and I didn't want him worrying about this too.

"What evidence?" He asked shrewdly. "You found something?"

"Yeah. We have a pretty good idea of how I might get out of this. I just need Sydney."

"I want to know what evidence you have."

"It's nothing. It might not even be helpful."

"I'll determine that."

I sighed. I didn't see myself being able to get around this. But I didn't want to tell him I found my stake. I don't think he would believe that. He'd probably think I stole it and have somebody sent to destroy the evidence. My stake was my bargaining chip; If we could prove that we were right in our assumptions, it would at the very least lessen the heat against me. "I can't tell you on the open phone line. You have to trust me."

Abe was quiet on the other end for only a second. "Alright. I'll have her there in five hours, tops."

"I don't think you're that good. Unless you have a rocket ship, how are you going to get her from Russia in five hours?"

"The alchemist lives in New Orleans now. It's a six hour flight, but I guarantee it won't take that long."

I had known Sydney had been moved back to the US, but it had entirely gone over my head. I hadn't expected her to be arriving so soon; I'd figured a long flight between Russia and the US, so I would have pegged her arrival in maybe twenty four hours. But I guess it wouldn't hurt for her to be here sooner.

"Thanks." I added in _dad_ after I said thanks in my head, just to see what it sounded like. Not too bad.

"I'm trusting you not to do anything stupid."

"I won't." I promised.

"Somehow I don't believe you…" Abe sounded amused. I didn't bother letting myself get offended by that.

"Thanks for the leap of faith, old man."

Abe laughed. "Be careful."

There was a moment of unchecked silence as we both thought of what he'd just said. It would just be a simple request to most people, but to us it was different. He actually cared about me, and this was his way of letting me know. "I will." I promised again. That was my way of letting him know I cared. "You too." And before anything else could be said, I hung up the phone, preventing any further awkward goodbyes.

"Abe said he will have her here in five hours." I told them, handing the phone back to Dimitri.

"Did you find anything?" Dimitri asked, looking at the folders stacked on the table.

"Nathan's in debt." I informed him. Dimitri didn't seem to be surprised.

"I don't put it past them. I wouldn't put it past any of the royals. How'd you figure that out?"

"Damon kept receipts in Nathan's file. Tons of receipts. The last one showed he had a negative account balance." I found the receipt in question and handed it to him as proof.

"Are you sure this is Nathan's account?"

I frowned. "It's in his file. Who else would it belong to?"

"Damon, maybe?"

Christian laughed. "That's a dumb hiding spot."

Dimitri shrugged. "So if he's in debt, maybe he made a fake will to cover it up. Now he's got a motive."

"He's also got a motive for killing the queen." Christian said. I snorted most unattractively.

"Nathan? I don't think he has the courage. You should have seen him when I went to dinner at their house. When Tatiana showed up, he was like a kid, stuttering and all."

"I doubt he would do it either." Christian said. "But maybe he had somebody else do it. Think a minute. Whoever did it knew what they were doing."

"Yeah, we got that part." I said, irate.

"Not just the fingerprints. Remember when Lissa and I were training with the stakes that night?"

"When you decided to play grown up?" I mocked. "Yeah."

Christian looked disgusted with me, and it was kind of funny. "I know it takes a lot of strength."

"Which is why whoever did it used two stakes." I finished, impatient with his conclusions. Why were we going in circles?

"That's why whoever did it had already staked somebody before."

"So you think it's a guardian?" I asked. I saw Dimitri's face tighten next to me, taking the offense personally, as he always did when it came to this.

"Not necessarily." Christian shrugged. "But even if she was a sitting duck, she would have at least had a moment to wake up. She would have had a moment to scream."

"Unless she was too shocked." I was thinking of a deer in headlights, how you know you need to react, but you're so paralyzed with shock that you can't speak or move. If she was in a deep sleep, she could have woken up from the impact and not realized what was going on until it was too late to scream.

"I don't think so. You may not hold the queen in the highest graces, but she was really smart. And if she knew it was coming, she would have been vigilant. I don't think that anybody would walk into her room without her knowing. She would wake up."

"Says who? We don't know if she was a light sleeper or not."

"I don't think she would have just stayed asleep. I bet she was awake the whole time. I think that whoever did it would have wanted that satisfaction of a struggle."

"So then why didn't she scream? Why didn't she leave or do something?" I just couldn't see the queen in a face off with her murderer. I imagined somebody would have crept in her room and plunged it through her heart before she had a chance to even wake up.

"Either way it happened, the murderer knew what they were doing." Christian argued. "They had to get it on the first try."

"How do you know that?"

"Assumption."

"You know what they say about assuming?"

"The pictures helped too."

"What pictures?"

"The ones they passed around at your hearing. There was a lot of blood, but it wasn't like somebody cracked her open." I winced at the morbidity of our conversation. "It was a perfect plunge."

I hadn't examined the pictures. I looked at Dimitri, and he confirmed Christian's statement with a nod of his head. "Alright. Then we can assume maybe it was a hit man? Nathan hired somebody to get rid of the queen?"

"And they set you up because…?"

"He doesn't think I'm good enough for his son?" I suggested. "I don't know."

"Hey Rose." I looked up and saw Jill sitting on Lissa's bed still, her hair falling into her face as she looked at something. She had been so quiet.

"Yeah?"

"Have you seen these?" Jill looked up to meet my gaze, and I tried to see what she was holding up. Not surprisingly, it was a piece of paper. I crossed to her and looked at it. The writing was familiar, and I almost dismissed it. But the writing was the same as the letter the queen had left me, yet it was a different ink. I looked up at the top, and saw my name written there in elaborate letters. I glanced down at the folder and saw more papers, covered in that same writing. I looked back at the one in my hand and began to read.

_Rose,_

_I apologize for all the scattered letters. I know that this is not a fun game for you, piecing together my clues, but I wouldn't do this if it weren't necessary. I've written to you because all the people that I should trust cannot be granted my faith. You may not understand this, but you are the one who I trust, because you have never made your animosity toward me anything less than obvious. You are a true person, if abrupt and harsh. It is that blunt edge that compels me to give you this information, to trust you with my tasks._

_I hope you have found all the letters I have left to you. If somebody else gets to them, I hope they do not retrieve all letters. That is the reason I have broken my words up and hidden them in several spots. In letter one I gave you a mission, which I hope has been completed. Be careful in your revelation; there are some among our ranks who would destroy innocence to advance their own gain. Only once you three are ready to set the quorum right can you reveal what you've discovered from my task. Do not be fooled by wolves masquerading as sheep; Not everyone can be trusted as well as you may think._

I looked up at Jill for a brief moment, trying to process everything I had just read. I had a mind to read it again, but there were other letters here. I picked up the second.

_Rose,_

_My faith in you is being put to a test. I have been witness to your anger, but I feel that you have intentions that are geared for the greater good of both your race and mine. The age decree that has been put into place may not have seemed fair, but we are finding ourselves in extenuating circumstances these days. I hope that the knowledge I leave to you finds you in good faith and that you can forgive me for the things I have done that you contest. The knowledge I have provided you with should help you achieve a desirable ends, and it will help in justifying the means. Please use wisely the tools I have left you, and use them to help in the bettering of our society._

I set the second letter down and picked up the third.

_Rose,_

_Trust is something that is very weak and fragile. Only the strong are capable of it, even if the weak seem to think they have it. Trust can be a great weapon, but it can also be destructive. If you are not careful with it, it will tear you apart. My weakness has been my strength. I have trusted those whose blood I have shared and I have trusted those whose hearts have been spilled to me. But just because they say I should trust them, does not mean I should. There is something sickening going on, and I wish I knew what it was so that I could tell you, but even I do not know what is happening within our society. I didn't trust you because you were an extension of a person I didn't trust. But I've come to realize blood is thicker than water, but water runs clean. I know you believe I thought you impure, or not in high enough standing, but you are truly a remarkable person. While I believe it must not mean much to you, I would like to give you my blessing in your future with my great nephew, whatever it may hold. _

She was right that her blessing wasn't worth much to me. But I didn't have time to think or brood over that. There was one last letter there, and none of the other ones had been terribly helpful. I hoped this one was useful.

_Rose,_

_The lengths you go to for love are admirable. One of the greatest things you can have in this world is love, in any form. The love between family, friends, and partners. It is your strength that you put your heart out and subject it to the treatment of others. Love takes courage, as does leadership. Vasilisa is more to you than a friend. The bond that exists between you is one forged from love. You are sisters in the simplest form, and even with your shadow-kissed connection, the relationship you exhibit is true. You are two parts in balance with each other. It is because of the generosity and strength of Vaslisa that I offer her the throne. Of all the people that are eligible for the crown, I believe her to be the one with the best morals, the one who cares the most for our society. Vasilisa has the most respect for human nature and she is sharp and brilliant. Her dreams have long been in conjunction with Lehigh, and if that is what she wishes, she may of course pursue it. However, with the quorum set straight, Lissa is a very likely candidate for the title of queen. I would love that she would accept these duties and govern our people to the best of her ability. I have trusted this information only to you, because there are those that will try to stand in her way. You must not let them stop her from getting what is rightfully hers. _

_She has every right to ascend to the throne if it is in her wishes. Under our ancient laws, the title of monarch does not have to go to the oldest. If put to a popular vote, the decision rests with royal families and the council. No one may elect others from their bloodline, but they may nominate themselves. It is my hope that you will help use the information I have given you to earn Vasilisa the popular vote if she should wish to reign as queen. Some have twisted views in our council, but most everyone's intentions are for a good end. If you can show them Vasilisa's noble and caring nature, I believe the right choice will be made. The future of our society rests within your hands and Vasilisa's. My faith and trust in you withstanding, be careful in your journey for the crown. Let none stand in the way of what is just._

I dropped the note and took a deep breath, trying to imagine the queen's wishes. Would Lissa want that? Would I want that? What kind of life would that give us? I felt faint, like I was about to pass out.

"What did it say?" Jill asked. Her voice sounded concerned.

I looked at Christian. "Lissa is going to be the queen."

**a/n: so one of my fabulous readers pointed out that in Shadow Kiss the queen tells Rose both of adrian's grandmother's were Dragomirs. I didn't forget, but maybe I misinterpreted it. In the book, the queen says both of adrian's grandmother's come from a branch of the drtagomir line, which I took to mean they were related to the dragomirs, but not dragomirs themselves. Maybe I overthought that, but my grandmother does all the genealogy stuff, and the way it was worded led me to believe that it was somethiong more like one of adrian's grandparent's' parents that was a Dragomir by blood, but they became something else by marriage. I don't know if that's confusing any of you, but if that's wrong then I'm sorry. I couldn't find the part of the book that talked about his grandparents to save my life, but I did remember that distinctive conversation with the queen. Sorry if I confused anybody; I think it's a matter of interpetation? Lol. So, i've discovered Abe is not so easy for me to write. I really love his character, and I'm sure I didn't do him justice. It just didn't come naturally for me. Also, "someone" pointed out that those letters might be boring to read, in which case I apologize, but we knew she had left them and so it was about time for them to come into play! Ok, well, I hope you guys liked it. Leave me some love! I ADORE you guys. Each time I get a new e-mail on my phone I get all excited! =D Ok, much love to you all. Keep up your hard work!**

**much love,**

**belleceline**


	41. Chapter 41

Dimitri's contact was not at all what I had been expecting. My imagining of the guy before meeting him was either a tall, formidable man like Dimitri or a typical robust Italian mobster. I got the robust part right, at least. The little old man that showed up was a good foot shorter than me, but he certainly made up for it in width. There were a few wisps of hair on his head, and the shiny bald spot only served to make him look more unfortunate. "I'm Steak." He said, flashing a gap-toothed grin. I extended my hand in formal guardian fashion, but he only looked at it with distaste before shoving his own hands in his pockets.

"This is my friend, Rose." Dimitri introduced me. I felt like I had been punched as I heard the title 'my friend', but Dimitri gave me a pointed look. I smiled for Steak's benefit.

"You know why they call me Steak?" He asked.

My eyes flickered to his waist-line. I had a pretty good idea why anybody would call him steak, but I shook my head. "Why?"

"Because I'm good with a stake. I take down all kinds of strigoi."

"Oh." I managed. _That kind of stake._

"So you can quit giving me that look, dhamp." His lips curled in amusement at his nickname for me. "I'll take care of it."

I frowned. At least, I think I did. I can't be sure, because Stake didn't let on. Dimitri laughed, and I turned to look at him. "We just need the basic fingerprinting. Take them off the door and run them to see if you can find a match. Somebody broke into her room and stole something very valuable."

"I'm sure it wasn't her virtue." Stake laughed. It took me a moment to process the comment, and when I realized the insult, I had to stop myself from lunging for his neck. He seemed confident in his ability with a stake, but I could take him. I imagined myself bounding across the room and knocking him on the ground with a few brutal punches. It didn't seem all that terrible of a punishment in the grand scheme of things; Maybe whatever Lissa and Adrian were onto over in Russia _was_ helping control the side-effects of spirit.

Dimitri didn't seem amused. He fixed Stake with a cold, hard look that probably could have cut glass, and though they were 'friends', it was obvious Dimitri wasn't going to stand for that. I tried not to feel smug as I saw Stake shrink away from Dimitri's glare, visibly. "It was a necklace." He said bluntly. "A very expensive necklace with sentimental value. Naturally, we want it back."

"And you couldn't get the Royal Court involved?" Stake looked entertained, but I could see that he was being wary. I looked at the briefcase in his hands, wondering when he would get to work.

"They have a lot on their plate." Dimitri didn't bother elaborating, but Stake didn't mind. He set the briefcase on the floor and clicked open the dials until the top swung open. I didn't really look at the contents of the case; I was still imagining myself kicking him between the legs. I wondered whether he had kids; I hoped so, because the next comment he made was going to render him incapable of reproduction.

"Well, I'll tell you this," Stake snapped on a pair of clear latex gloves, and I wondered just how shady his connections were. "If there's no print here, my fee will double."

"Just like the old days." Dimitri said. I looked at him, intrigued. "Don't worry, you'll get a print."

"Yeah, yeah." Stake pulled out what looked like a nail file. I couldn't see what use that would be, unless he was planning some kind of manicure. It would justify the gloves. But he slid the file between my door and the door frame, giving it a firm jiggle. I realized what he was doing and was about to protest when I heard a pop; My door creaked open. "Going in?"

"I could have opened it." I grumbled, looking at Dimitri coolly.

"If I wanted to get your fingerprints all over it I would have asked you to open it." Stake said, almost condescending. I walked into my room anyways, looking around me. It was weird that this place already felt strange to me. It was like I knew I didn't belong there anymore. I didn't even feel the same as I had before when I was there. It was like being somewhere new for the first time.

"Where the hell did you find that guy?" I asked Dimitri in a hushed undertone once we had crossed the room.

"Mutual friends." He said, his voice distant and closed-off.

"Well, now I see why you don't trust him." I said angrily. I hadn't forgotten his rude comment toward me, and it was a mark against him. I wasn't going to sit around and let this guy play bully. The next time he had something to say, I wasn't going to try and be nice.

Dimitri gave me a soft smile, and I sat down on the edge of my bed. He leaned against the bed post, much to my irritation, but I let it go when I felt a sudden intrusion to my thoughts. My upset with Dimitri subsided as I felt...scared. And frustrated. I realized where those feelings were coming from. I looked at Dimitri quickly, just barely giving him an explanation before I was pulled into Lissa's thoughts.

The moment I snapped into her mind I could tell she was feeling something strong. But she was not in any immediate danger, I was happy to see. She was sitting down again on the Belikov's back porch, her knees drawn to her chest. Her pale hair hung on either side of her face, obscuring anything in her peripheral vision, and she was looking intently at her shoes. But her shoes weren't causing her problems. I was.

It took me a moment to latch on to her train of thoughts and figure out why she was thinking about me and feeling sad. I would assume she must be missing me, cause I know that I missed her, but that wasn't it. She was mad at herself that she hadn't done anything to help me. She was scared because there was not that much time left until my trial. And she was frustrated, although I couldn't tell why that was. I wished again that I could talk to her, let her know that it was going to be OK. I needed to tell her about these recent developments...my stake, the Ivashkov's empty account, the Queen's letters. But I couldn't talk to her, and my only means of communication was mad at me. I wasn't going to be able to tell her all this anytime soon.

Lissa looked up at a rustling sound coming from behind her, and she turned to see Adrian leaning against the wall with a glass bottle in his hand. I would have figured he would have looked bad; stressed out, hair a mess, his eyes ringed red. But he didn't look like that at all. He looked...good. I credited that to the drink in his hand. "Adrian!" Lissa said sharply. He flashed her a charming smile, oblivious to the alarm in her voice.

"Yes, cousin?"

"Your aura...what are you drinking? I can smell it from here." She stood up.

"No worries, princess." He placed a hand on her shoulder, and I could feel that it was heavy. He was leaning on her more than he appeared to be. His smile faltered as he looked at her. "Why are you worried about my aura? Yours is..." He broke off, squinting at her.

"You can't tell." Lissa said, matter-of-fact. "You're totally gone."

"No." Adrian looked at her more intently, his face taking on a sad look. "I guess my spirit got stronger. I can't even tune it out anymore. What's wrong?"

"I'm worried you'll get alcohol poisoning. Give me that." She reached for the bottle, but he moved quickly, if not with any grace. He stumbled a bit, and Lissa grabbed his arm and pushed him down so that he was sitting, holding the bottle tightly in his arms.

"You're not worried about me." He said in a sing-song voice. "What's got you down? Missing the pyro, are we?"

Lissa laughed for his benefit and sank onto the step next to him. "I'm scared." She admitted.

"Not to worry. I'm a _pro_." Adrian laughed. "I _pro_-mise I won't get alcohol poisoning."

"I'm worried about Rose." She said gently, not wanting to make him feel insignificant. Adrian's face dropped a little and he uncapped his bottle. Lissa put a hand over the top of it, and he turned to look at her, defeated by such a simple gesture. "Time's running out."

"It's ok." Adrian said, patting her hand. "There's still time."

"Not enough!" She said loudly. The rise in her voice took him by surprise, but she wasn't stopping there. "We've been here four days! And what have we accomplished?"

My surprise matched Adrian's. She never yelled if she could help it. Being that Adrian wasn't provoking her, it was uncalled for. His face furrowed as he looked at her again. "We learned projection. And we met all these crazy people like us. And you got to meet Trenton. He really likes you."

"And none of that is helping her." She said sharply. "We came here for a reason. We haven't gotten any closer to finding Victor or Robert. Being here is a waste of time. I think we could get more done back at court."

Adrian was quiet a moment. "Do you want to go back?"

"I think it would be for the best. We came here to find Victor. We should have known he would be in the states. He's probably hiding out in Vegas still."

Adrian nodded, seemingly agreeing with her. "But what could we do at court? It's not like we're detectives. We can't solve this ourselves."

"Who says?" Lissa asked, shrugging. "I bet we could. The way she was set up was too obvious. Whoever did it isn't as good as they seem to think."

"You think I don't know that?" Adrian laughed. "Every night before I fall asleep, I think of who could have done it. And trust me, I've thought of everybody."

"Like who?" Lissa demanded, genuinely curious. Her thoughts kept coming full circle. She didn't know who had killed the queen, but she was intent on talking to Victor. I couldn't tell whether she suspected him or Robert, but either way they were pretty much the only people on her radar.

"Everybody. Me, you, Christian, my parents, Belikov...even Aunt Tatiana is a suspect."

Lissa laughed harshly. "None of the above. Nobody would do that."

Adrian shrugged. "Everyone has a motive. I'm trying to think like a lawyer."

"Ok." I could tell Lissa was humoring him. Playing into his game of detective was easing her anxiety though, so I was glad she asked. "What are the motives?"

Adrian looked more than happy to share his thoughts. "I could have done it because Aunt T didn't want Rose and I together. You know, crime of passion or whatever. You could have done it because Rose is your best friend, and the Queen embarrassed her. Sticking up for your sister. Christian could have done it just because he doesn't like her. And Belikov...I just don't like him."

Lissa cracked a smile, not bothering to assure him that Dimitri wasn't a likely suspect. None of the aforementioned were. But there was one that had piqued her interest. "Why would Tatiana do it?"

Adrian looked up, seemingly startled. "Hmm? Oh. Well, maybe she just really wanted to get rid of Rose."

"She was the queen." Lissa said, as if he had forgotten. "There are a thousand other ways to get rid of somebody. I doubt she would kill herself just to get Rose out of the picture."

"I don't know." He frowned. "It was just a theory."

Lissa's smile was almost sympathetic. "I just feel like I need to be with her. What if we fail? What if we can't help her? I'd rather spend as much time with her as possible then..." She left the rest to his imagination.

I was getting worried now too. Lissa's feelings were dark; They weren't the black abyss that I would usually associate with spirit, but they were sour and cold. She was upset, and it wasn't anything she could brush off. It was the kind of angst you have to do something about. "I'm sure Abe will fly you back, if that's what you want." Adrian said.

"I do. It's for the best that we go back and try to get things straightened out for ourselves. She needs us."

Adrian was looking at her like he had just noticed her there. "Not us." He said, shaking his finger at her. "I'm not going back."

"What? You need to stop drinking."

"I'm serious. She doesn't need me. I'm staying here."

Lissa blinked, unable to comprehend the capacity of his words. "You can't be serious."

"Two hundred percent. I like it here. I don't have to think about her."

"She's your friend!" Lissa said, her irritation mounting. "You can't just write her off."

"The time has come. She has moved on, and so have I. I think Russia would be a good place to raise kids. Don't you think?"

"What kids?" She asked, slightly hysterical.

"The ones I could have with Katia." He said simply. Lissa froze, and I would have too if I had been there.

"You mean...you guys were...safe, right?"

Adrian looked confused, but it didn't take long for it to click. "Of course. But we could be good together. Here."

Lissa shook her head. "You don't even like her. She doesn't make you happy."

"Nobody does. But we could make each other happy, I'm sure. With time."

"Rose makes you happy." Lissa said softly. Adrian fixed her with a hard look.

"But I can't have her. She wants Belikov. I'm not standing in the way of what she wants anymore. What's that saying? If you love something, let it go. Well, that's what I'm doing."

"You're not letting go." She said insistently. "You're running away!"

"I'm already here." He reasoned. "It won't matter if I stay."

"You're a coward." Lissa said dangerously. Her voice was low, but it carried that sinister edge that was foreign in her words.

"I have a shot at something here. What do I have if I go back?"

"You'll at least have a friend. Maybe her love for Dimitri is stronger, but she still cares about you. You're hurting everyone by staying here."

"And going back will only hurt me. I'm tired of hurting."

"But-" Lissa's voice died out as the sliding door opened. Eddie stood there, his face pink. He looked like he had been running. Adrian turned to look at him, and Eddie didn't bother appearing apologetic at the obvious intrusion.

"We found him." He said, the excitement clear in his voice. "We've found Victor."

My brain went into overdrive, filling up with questions. They had found Victor? What were they going to do with him? Was he with Robert? And where had they found him in the first place? I had a lot of questions, and they matched Lissa's, but Dimitri's voice brought me back to my own reality. "Rose?"

I snapped up as quickly as I could manage, as if I had fallen asleep in class, and saw Dimitri's worried expression. "What's wrong?" I asked, frantic. I felt a little nauseous, but I think that was more from sitting up so quickly than from an impending strigoi attack. That, and the fact that my friends were about to talk to Victor Dashkov.

"Nothing. Stake's done. He's running the prints right now."

"Oh." I rubbed my neck, thoughtful. "They found Victor."

"Who?"

"Eddie. I don't know exactly, but that's what they went there for."

Dimitri nodded, and I wondered why he took the news with such ease. It only took me a little bit of looking into his beautiful eyes to find the truth.

"You knew? You knew they went there to find him." It made sense, but I hadn't even questioned it. Dimitri had called his family to ask if they would open up their home to my friends; I should have figured that Dimitri would know then exactly what they hoped to gain by going halfway around the world, but it hadn't even occurred to me to ask. Now, I felt a little betrayed. "How could you not tell me that?"

"We didn't want you worrying about that. You already have enough to think about."

"You should have told me." I said, forcing my voice to be hard. I was angry, but not rabid. I wasn't about to start yelling over it, but the injustice of it was still stinging a bit.

"It wasn't in your best interest. Abe is tough, and his guardians are good. And your mom's with them. She's one of the best. They're better off with them looking for Victor then they would be here."

I sighed. I wanted to be angry with him for keeping information from me, but I couldn't bring myself to be that mad. He was close to me, and the intimacy had my breath sticking in my chest. I wanted to kiss him, but not in Stake's presence. Dimitri smiled. "You know, when you go into Lissa's head like that it's scary."

"Scary?" I asked, surprised. I didn't often think of Dimitri as getting scared.

"You look like you're dead."

I laughed, for no good reason. "Not sleeping?"

"No. You get all stiff. It's weird." He reached a hand up and brushed a strand of hair away from my face. I decided to throw caution to the wind and lean in to kiss him. To hell with Stake. But right before our lips made contact, Stake cleared his throat.

"We've got a match." My frustration was forgotten as excitement took hold. I was sure it was Victor who had broken into my room, but the idea of knowing for sure was appealing.

"Who is it?" Dimitri asked, going to stand behind Stake, who was holding a paper in his hands, looking smug.

"It matched with somebody who has a record of public indecency. Damon Tarus." 

**a/n: I know you all hate me for holding out on you. I haven't done it intentionally. My computer is broken, taken down by some nasty virus that pretends to be the windows security system, but it's not. We have another clunker computer that moves slow, and is equipped with only word pad. I was explaining to somebody how much I detest word pad. I'd rather poke my hand with a needle and use it to write on a stone tablet by candlelight. Yeah, I HATE word pad. Then we have my grandmother's computer, and she loves my writing so much, she downloaded open office (a microsoft substitute) onto her computer so I can get back to typing. Of course, it's not the same. However, taking a recess wasn't all bad. It has given me a lot to think about and a chance to work on some original stuff. I hated being away for so long, and I will try to get them up quicker now, but it will still most likely be slow work what with the computer sharing issue. That said, I hope 41 was not a complete disappointment. I had to forestall the arrival of Sydney; i couldn't make five hours go by that fast. We want this story to last us, right? Lol. Alright, please tell me your thoughts. I love to hear it all :) Once again, sorry it's been so long. Blame the losers who sit around and develop viruses to hack your computer (nerds!). Much love to you all.**

**BelleCeline =D**


	42. Chapter 42

What was weird to me at first was actually not the fact that Damon Tarus had broken into my room. What stunned me was the fact that he had a record for public indecency. I felt bad for whoever had been in the public at that point in time. But my sympathy for strangers disappeared, soon to be replaced by more confusion. Why would Damon break into my room?

"You're sure it's Damon Tarus?" Dimitri had asked Stake a couple of times. Each time, Stake got a little less forthcoming, and finally I decided to hand him the money he required for his services. I didn't want to part with it since he'd only left me with more questions then answers, but I was desperate to get rid of him, and so I forced a couple of bills into his hand and Dimitri showed him to the door.

Of all the people I could have suspected, Damon was not among them. It just hadn't occurred to me, although I suppose there was some sort of indication that he was up to no good. After all, he'd turned Strigoi. That should have been my first clue to investigate him. But the necklace was my first real clue that whoever had killed the queen hadn't just used me as a scapegoat. They had been playing with me. I should have known that Victor couldn't have had the necklace; He would have never gotten a chance to get it back after we'd pitched it out the window. I don't know who else would have known, or who else could have even found the necklace, as it was on school grounds. But it should have been clear that Victor hadn't left it to me; Much like the way I'd been set up, it was just too easy.

But knowing the person who'd left me that gift in the first place had only been half the problem. Now I had to consider _why _Damon would do it. _How_ he would do it. Why wouldn't he wear gloves to break in? How could he have gotten ahold of the necklace? None of it seemed to have any apparent answers, and it was really frustrating. And on top of that, there was no way Damon had been responsible for the whole squirrel thing. He was dead even before that squirrel was. He simply could not have been the one who left it there. Whoever had done it wanted me to think it was Victor. They wanted me to assume that he was using all his old tricks again to freak me out. But there was a gut feeling in the pit of my stomach that told me Victor was not to blame, particularly if he was in Russia. That meant that whoever his copycat was, they would have had to know about Victor's morbid games in the first place. Of course, that didn't exactly narrow down our choices. At Victor's sentencing, almost all of that information had been revealed. Anybody who had been at that trial, and even anybody who had _heard_ about that trial, would know those things.

I was beginning to grow angry. I could practically feel a black cloud closing in on me as I thought in circles, coming to no conclusions. If anything, thinking only left me with even more questions. That's why I was grateful when the phone rang. I wasn't allowed to go with Dimitri to meet Sydney at the gate, but the minute she came in, I stopped thinking. We were back in Lissa's room because I hated to leave Jill alone, and because I felt like I needed to update her and Christian about the prints on my door. And Damon's record for public indecency. Dimitri brought Sydney and a young boy into the room, setting down only one travel bag.

I could see from Syndey's face when she entered the room that she was uncomfortable. However, the boy with her was not uncomfortable in the least. In fact, he looked thrilled. I was surprised when he practically ran across the room and stopped in front of me. His arms wrapped around me, and I felt my defenses kicking in, until I looked up and saw Sydney's amused face. That was rare. I stepped back from him and forced a smile. "I'm Austin." He said happily. I was unused to such exuberance, except for when it came to Jill.

"Hi. I'm-"

"You're Rose Hathaway." Austin cut me off. "You're a legend."

I laughed, unable to think of anything polite to say. Not that I needed to be polite, but I figured I owed it to him. Besides, this kid seemed nice. Stake hadn't deserved any pleasantries, but Austin seemed sweet enough. And he clearly didn't dislike me. "I don't think so." I assured him modestly.

"Oh yeah you are. You're amazing. Sydney talks about you all the time! You're her best friend aren't you?"

I looked at Sydney, surprised, and she looked away, avoiding my eyes. I wasn't sure who this kid was, seeing as Sydney wasn't old enough to have a child this age. I would figure Austin at twelve. A very animated twelve, at that. "This is my cousin." Sydney explained. "He's going to be an alchemist."

"Oh." I smiled at Austin, looking for any similarities between him and Sydney. I didn't see any, but that wasn't much of a surprise. I wasn't sure why she would bring him though, unless she'd been babysitting.

"Today was my day off. I was going to take him to the beach." Sydney must have read my mind. I nodded.

"I'm glad you could come. I really needed somebody I could trust."

"Yeah, that's what Abe said. It would be nice to know what I'm doing, though."

"Yeah, of course." I moved over to the left, revealing the table, and pointed at my stake. Sydney looked confused…until she moved closer. Her face turned to a mask of shock.

"You didn't…"

"I didn't steal it." I said, slightly annoyed that everybody thought I was going around stealing things. Last time I checked, I wasn't a kleptomaniac. A crazy, prison-breaking, vigilante maybe, but not a thief.

"You found it?" Sydney guessed, her voice doubtful. She was back to her impassive alchemist attitude, but I could see that she was still nervous to be so out of her element.

"As a matter of fact, she _did_ find it." Jill said loudly, her voice tinged with a defensive note. Sydney turned to look at her, seemingly confused by her presence. Sydney was a bit of a hard ass, certainly not one to be upstaged by Jill, but it was obvious that she was feeling a little on edge around these vampires.

"Sydney, this is Jill…" I hesitated, unsure whether I should let her in on Jill's secret heritage. I decided against it. We had a lot to do; Explaining that Jill was the lost Dragomir child would take more time than we had right now. I left off her last name altogether, and looked at Christian. "And this is Christian Ozera."

I saw the recognition in her eyes even before I said his name. She looked even more uncomfortable, no doubt having heard of his parents decision to turn strigoi. Austin didn't seem scared. "Whoa!" He said, excited. He looked at me, and then back to Christian. "You guys are friends? Are you her boyfriend?"

I nearly choked on the air. Christian looked down right disgusted. "No." I assured him, smiling. That was a funny thought. "He's my best friend's boyfriend. I have to be nice to him." Austin smiled, but Sydney wasn't amused. I returned my attention to the stake. "I found this outside. It was in the mud."

Sydney stepped closer to the table, peering down at it. "No offense, but what do you think you're going to get out of it if it was in the mud?"

"I don't know." I admitted. "But I had to try. You know what's going on, how bad it is." It wasn't a question. I was sure that as an alchemist she would have heard every last detail of what had been going on in the Moroi world. She claimed not to care about us or the world we lived in, but I think she was secretly intrigued by all of it.

"I've heard stories."

"I need to clear my name, Sydney." I said, desperate. "I didn't do anything."

Although she pretended she had a heart of stone, Sydney wasn't as cold as she thought she was. She watched me a moment, looking for any traces of a lie, and decided she believed me. "Ok. We can try."

"Thank you." I said, feeling a little more relieved. "I didn't know you could do this kind of thing."

"Take fingerprints?" She looked amused again. "I don't. That's Austin's job."

I gave her a dubious look, but Austin seemed to take her statement as a command. He went to the bag that Dimitri had placed on the floor and began to retieve things from it. I didn't pay attention to what he was taking out of it; I was more intrigued with the fact that he was going to do this at all. All the hope I had recently acquired was in the hands of a kid.

"I wanted to be a detective." Austin said conversationally. "So my mom bought me all those kits. They were cool, til I turned nine. I started to pawn that kiddy stuff to get money for the real stuff."

Sydney must have noticed my surprise. "My aunt and uncle are busy." She explained. "They keep him entertained like this."

I nodded, watching him set his camp up around the table. He looked at my stake, observing it. "It was in the mud, so that's not good. But you'd be surprised how much stuff sticks on metal. Even in the rain." Jill was intrigued by him; She moved across the room and stood slightly over his shoulder, a respectful distance away. Austin seemed to notice though, and he turned around. "I could use an assistant." He offered.

Jill smiled, and moved to the table to help him. I watched them for a minute and sighed. I was nervous. After finding out that Damon had broken into my room, I felt like we'd failed. He was dead. It would be hard to pin the blame on him when he was a heap of ashes.

Christian looked bored. He yawned and moved to the door. "I'm going to find food." He announced.

"I'll go with you." Dimitri said, looking at him as if to seek his permission. Christian looked surprised, but he rose no objections. "Does anybody want anything?"

Austin didn't look up, but he spoke. "I need a philly cheese steak and a slice of mushroom pizza."

I looked at Sydney, and Dimitri turned toward her too, intrigued. Sydney shrugged. "That's what I promised him."

"Ok." Dimitri agreed. "Cheesesteak and pizza." He shook his head, smiling, and followed Christian out the door.

Sydney watched me as I sat on the edge of the bed. It was approaching twenty four hours since I'd slept, and even then I hadn't slept much last time, since I'd been with Dimitri. Today was easily the longest day of my life. "How do you get into so much trouble?" Sydney asked me.

"It finds me, I swear." I had given up looking for trouble, since I always found it.

"Maybe so. But I think I deserve some sort of explanation. I want to know everything that's happened since I talked to you two weeks ago."

"There's too much to talk about." I protested, reluctant to relive all the questioning in circles.

"I'm sure we have time." Sydney prodded. I sighed. There were so many things to recount, but she did deserve an explanation. After all, she had just picked up and flew five hours to a vampire infested city with her little cousin. If that had been me, I would require some sort of explanation too. So I told her everything I thought she needed to know, right up to Damon's fingerprints on my door.

"You're like a trouble attracting magnet, aren't you?"

"I guess so." I agreed, watching Austin and Jill. He had taken what he could of the prints off of the stake; Now he was scanning them, waiting for a response. He had taken multiple areas, trying to get as many prints as he could, in case the stake had passed through a couple of people's hands.

Dimitri and Christian returned with food; I had no idea where they had found pizza and cheese steak this early in the morning, what with a good three more hours of sunlight left, but they had managed it. They brought back three whole pizzas, as if we would eat that much, and delivered Austin's food to the table right next to him. He jumped up, excited, and delved into his pizza, picking off the mushrooms and setting them on the top of the box. I didn't bother asking what the point of getting a mushroom pizza was if he was just going to take the mushrooms off.

When Dimitri had me trapped in Galina's home out in Russia, he had sent up pizza. He knew I was powerless to resist, and even then, I had eaten the pizza cold and enjoyed it. But right then I was too nervous to enjoy my slice. I kept waiting for the little scanner Austin had brought to beep, to let us know that a match had been found. It felt like hours were passing, and I had a brief flash of thought. I figured this must be how someone feels while waiting for the results of a pregnancy test, not that I planned to find out. I didn't even know where the idea came from, but I didn't contemplate it much because there came a buzzing from the device on the table. I stood up so fast the world began to spin. Austin beat me to the table; he was looking at the screen of a lap top with a very serious look on his face by the time I made it to his side.

"What?" I asked, worried. Had the rain washed away all the evidence? Did the mud make it hard to get a full scan?

Austin shook his head, and I wondered whether I had asked those questions out loud. "It's weird. There's only one set of prints on here."

"Oh."

"They're not yours, though." Austin said, seeing my sudden desperation. I had been holding out for the hope that we could use my stake as evidence in my favor at the trial. I was hoping to prove that somebody else had touched it. I wasn't sure who, but I was really hoping it would be somebody that actually made sense this time.

"Well, whose are they?" I prompted, impatient. We were all dead silent as we waited for Austin's response, and just as he opened his mouth there was a knock on the door. Dimitri moved first to answer it, and I was grateful so I could return my attention to Austin.

"The name is Emilio Kurtwright." He said, looking blankly at the screen in front of him. He turned to me. "Who is that?"

"I've never heard it before." I admitted, squinting at the screen to see the small printed name. "Do you have a picture?"

"There isn't one attached. But I could google it."

"Try that." I commanded. I had no idea who Emilio Kurtwright was, and I didn't know why his fingerprints were on my stake, but I was definitely going to find out.

"Rose?" I heard my name, but I wasn't sure who said it. I was too busy looking through the search results to turn around and see. I ignored it, until I heard my name again.

"Hold on a sec."

"Roza, this is important." I turned around then, Dimitri's voice surprising me. That, and the fact that he had called me Roza, which was usually reserved for when I amused him. I found Dimitri by the door, but he wasn't alone. Next to him stood Mikhail, and I realized he had been the one to say my name the first time.

Mikhail had helped me out a lot lately, and he was a really nice guy, so a social call wouldn't have seemed that unusual, if it hadn't been for the fact that it was the still early in the morning. Something about the way he looked warned me he had something important to say, and I tried to push aside my impatience at the intrusion.

"I just came from a council meeting." Mikhail said quickly. "I had to tell you."

"Tell me what?"

"You're trial has been moved up." He looked apologetic, as if it was his fault.

I sighed, thoroughly irritated. _Of course it was, _I thought bitterly. _God forbid I have time to prepare a defense for myself._ "When is it?"

Mikhail seemed like he was about to be ill as he answered. "Seven o clock. Today."

I looked at the computer screen and read the time on the bottom corner. My heart sank. "It's five fifteen!" I said, sharply. My voice went up a few octaves as I spoke, trying to comprehend the words that I was saying. Mikhail nodded grimly.

"You have two hours."

**a/n: i apologize. i'm so so so so so sorry for making you wait so long. I got almost thirty hours at work this week, spent time with my boyfriend who got back from vacation, and spent a good three hours on homework, plus another two and a half in school. Plus, I had to watch the end of Degrassi: the Boiling Point and work around my sister's time on the computer. Then, when I was cleared of all obstacles, I had to get motivated. But it's finally here, even if I feel it is mediocre. I am excited about the future chapters, which have not been written yet, but I've outlined the rest of the story, so I only have to write now. All the decision making stuff is done. so I hope it was decent. We really didn't learn anything, for which I apologize, but I couldn't let Rose know who Emilio is yet. By the way, he is made up, in case you're wondering, so don't bother trying to find it in the books ;) The way she finds out who he is is crucial to the plot. But feel free to speculate on who he is and what his relevance is. Reviews please =D I'm beyond ecstatic to have broken five hundred, but you guys are beyond amazing...I think we could do more ;) Much love all, BelleC**

**p.s. I received the following comment: from leysluvdimitribelikov on the 17th. _OMG! you haven't posted in forever! please hurry! I love ur story :) if you could look at my story and tell me what you think that would be great too bcz i think ur awesome! _**

**I would love to read your story and let you know, but you weren't logged in and no author shows up when I search that name. So if you sign in this time and ask again, I will most definitely :)**


	43. Chapter 43

The past week had been the slowest of my life, comprised of some of the most agonizing moments I could have imagined. Go figure that the next two hours passed in the blink of an eye. I was barely even aware of what was going on around me; I sat on the bed in a daze, truly helpless, as my friends moved around me frantically, making phone calls, going in and out, saying things that I couldn't comprehend. My mind seemed to filter them all out of it's own accord, keeping me in the dark. But I had enough to think about.

The clock was ticking ever closer to seven, and the sun kept sinking into the sky, bringing me closer and closer to my trial. I didn't think; I closed my mind off to what was going on around me, hopeless within myself. I had no defenses prepared. My stake was in my possession, which would incriminate me further. I had no lawyer, and I had no support. I was going to be sentenced to death, convicted of high treason and murder. I wanted to see Lissa and Adrian. I needed to be with my mother and Abe. But they were all in Russia, and I was here. I did the only thing I could and slipped into Lissa's head without worrying about where she was.

I wasn't even sure where she was once I tuned into her thoughts; I only knew that she was with the others. Adrian and Eddie stood on either side of her, and my mother waslose behind. I did not see Abe, but that didn't surprise me. He was a busy man. Lissa felt nervous, and I wasn't sure where they were or why she was nervous at first. But as Lissa looked around, I recognized where she was, not from my own experiences, but from hers. They were back at the place where they had first gone when they arrived in Russia: Trenton's home. But this time Trenton was not sitting is a chair in the smoke-filled living room. He was leaning on a cane and moving very slowly; I realized just how stooped and elderly he really was now. He stopped outside a door, and gave no warning before pushing it open.

He took his time going in, but when Lissa finally entered I could see what she did. Victor lay in the bed, a far cry from the man I had broken out of prison. I hadn't expected him to be as good as new and acting like a young man again, but I hadn't given much thought to the disease that plagued him. I had more or less forgotten about that, and so I was shocked to see how pale and emaciated he was. As much as I didn't like him, I almost felt bad seeing him like that. Lissa did too. She didn't give a second thought to what she was doing before she had slipped her hand into his.

Her compassion amazed me. I could feel her anxiety at seeing him like this, even after everything he had done to her. Even after he had tortured her and made her miserable, she forgave him and felt a personal hurt at his suffering. But she did not try to heal away his pain or illness; She simply held his hand, offering her comfort. Despite everything he had done to hurt her, he had once been like a part of her family. That reminder served only for her empathy to deepen.

Victor looked at her with such an odd look in his eyes that I feared he was trying to compel her into healing him. I couldn't imagine what else it would be, until he began to speak. "Vasilisa." He said softly. Lissa didn't speak; She looked to Adrian, who nodded encouragingly. I saw Robert standing on the other side of Victor's bed, hiding back in the shadows as much as he could. There was a wild look in his eyes, but Lissa didn't look at him for long. Her attention returned to Victor, and I could tell she was reading his aura. But she didn't need to, because Victor began to speak candidly. "Your parents would hate me for what I've done to you. _You_ should hate me for what I've done. But you don't have it in you to hate." Lissa looked down for a moment, gathering her thoughts. "I took advantage of your kindness, preying on your hospitality. I never meant to hurt you, but I was blinded by my desire for life. You do not realize how precious it is until you are about to lose it."

Victor grew silent for a moment, his face contemplative. He closed his eyes for a brief minute and caught his breath; Lissa watched him intently, tears threatening in her eyes. I didn't like that she was allowing herself to get overwhelmed by his words, but she was certain of his sincerity. "Now that I can see what I have actually done, I know I do not deserve for you to forgive me. But I know I must apologize to you for letting things get so out of hand."

Lissa nodded, not willing to tell him just yet that his apology was accepted. But Victor wasn't done. "And I thank you. You and Rose gave me the greatest gift I could have asked for. I am glad to be back here, with my family."

My sense of better judgment made itself known to me. _Come on, you're not really buying this crap, are you? _I would have asked the very same of Lissa if I could, and if I didn't already know the answer. Lissa was drowning herself in a pool of pity, letting herself fall prey to his words. But she wasn't the only one. I believed him too. As much as I did not have a good reason to trust him, I did. In a way Victor and I had an underlying similarity between us: Victor was clearly on his death bed. And me? I was close to realizing my own end. When I was sentenced to death, I would want the opportunity to give apologies and thanks. I would want to tie up any loose ends in my life. Though I didn't feel any sort of compassion for Victor, I did believe him.

"You have a gift, not a cure." Victor said, looking at Lissa imploringly, as if that were the single most important thing for her to realize. "If I had known it wouldn't work, I would have never put you through any of what I did."

Lissa nodded again, unsure of what to do. Through the tide of sorrow I could feel a little bit of longing reaching out for me, and I realized that Lissa wished I was there beside her. She was unsure of herself, of what to say. It was odd, because everybody thought Lissa was so self-assured and confident, but what she was yearning for was my irrational, blasé attitude. Those feelings increased when Victor's face tightened, contorting in pain. Worried, Lissa looked down at his hands, clenching his sheets, then back to his eyes, tightened shut against the hurt he felt. If I had been at Lissa's side, I would have stopped her from her next move, but I wasn't there. I felt the warmth in my chest as she turned to her spirit, yielding her elemental magic. She could not heal him, she knew; He was too far gone for that to be helpful. But she could take away the pain, and that was exactly what she did.

I don't know where it went. I would have expected her to siphon it up and send it into me, but the pain just seemed to disappear. A new sort of peace fell over the room, and Victor looked relaxed. And yet, he appeared more tired, and even weaker than before. The buzz of spirit still danced around me, light and airy, making me feel cool and comfortable. My fears disappeared along with Lissa's, and in that moment we were closer than we had been in recent weeks. I felt Lissa's disappointment as Victor's hand loosened around hers, and I could tell from his face and from Lissa's sense of his aura that he was fading quickly. "I forgive you." She told him softly.

Victor was impassive, hanging on by just a thread. I contemplated Lissa's words, wondering how she could forgive him. I did believe that Victor was sincere. I did not think he was using the situation as a last minute ticket to heaven, but part of me felt like I needed to protest. I wanted to forgive him, but I wasn't sure if I could. Perhaps if it had only been me that he had hurt it would be no question, but since it had been Lissa… Despite my reservations, as I looked through Lissa's eyes and felt what she felt, I knew that I could forgive him if she could.

Victor would probably never know that though, because I felt myself coming back into my own reality, my name being called. I opened my eyes to Dimitri, who looked as if he had not slept in days. Even though I hadn't really been asleep, I felt relaxed, as though I had.

"You need to get dressed." He informed me grimly. I looked at him, noticing he hand changed out of his casual clothing into formal guardian black. He looked really good, and I couldn't help but simply smile at him for a moment. But Dimitri was not calm. He was very clearly distressed.

I sat up, sighing, not sure what I was going to wear. I need not worry about that though, because in an effort to be helpful, Jill had decided to prepare an outfit for me. She had found demure black heels and a pair of tailored dress pants, both Lissa's. She'd chosen a red shirt for me of some silky material, and Sydney had lent her a blazer that she'd brought. By the time I was ready to leave, I certainly didn't look like I was the one who was going to be on trial.

On the way there I maintained my sense of calm. I was grateful I had gone to visit Lissa. It had calmed me enough to get me through this. Mikhail and another guardian I did not recognize showed up at the door to Lissa's room to escort me. Jill, Christian, Sydney, and Austin all left before us for the courtroom. I had the pleasure of an open trial, which meant that anybody could go. Since this was a pretty high profile case, I was sure that the room would be packed. Even though it seemed liked everybody in the world was going to be in the courtroom, I knew that wasn't true. Abe would not be there, and neither would my mother. Lissa and Adrian and Eddie also wouldn't be present. They were halfway across the world, and they probably didn't even know that I was about to be sentenced.

I had no defenses. My lawyer/father who had promised that he wouldn't let my case go to trial was absent. The man who had been lined up as my attorney before was dead, not that it mattered much, since he had probably had a hand in setting me up. I had the main evidence against me in my possession, and my fingerprints were no longer on it, which you would assume was a good thing. But it wasn't. It would only give the prosecution a reason to blame me more. I wondered how Iris Kane planned on explaining that she had lost key evidence. Technically, I didn't even have to say that I had the stake. They didn't need to know, since I hadn't stolen it. It didn't seem like a good idea to keep that from them; I didn't have a plan, and I was going to have to play it by ear, but it seemed like honesty would be the best policy.

As I entered the court room, I could feel a little bit of that desperation coming back to me. Everybody turned to look at me as I entered, giving me mixed reactions. Some people gave me such contemptuous looks, you'd think I was on trial for killing them. Other people looked at me with such pity that it made me feel pathetic. Mikhail led me to the front, where Dimitri sat with me in the chair that was meant for my lawyer. Mikhail and the other guardian stood to the side, slightly removed from the action, but close enough that they could spring into action if need be.

Christian and Jill sat close behind me, near the front. Jill looked terrified, her innocent face pulled into a mask of utmost terror, while Christian simply looked like he would like to leave. Sydney was with them, Austin on her other side. Sydney looked like she would rather be any place else, but I was glad she had stayed. Tasha sat a few rows behind them with Ambrose, both of them looking nervous. In the seat next to me, Dimitri looked like he was the one on trial. He grabbed my hand under the desk and gave it a gentle squeeze.

Across the room Daniella Ivashkov sat with one of her guardians, a tall man. Her husband sat at the front, filling the void for the Ivashkov clan. Daniella caught my eye across the room, and she must have sensed the anxiety that I was working so hard to hide. She gave me a small nod, but it wasn't encouraging. She looked absolutely hopeless. I saw Jesse sitting in the back, looking bored and uninterested. I half expected Victor Dashkov to be sitting there with a sly smile on his face, pleased with himself. But I knew that was not going to happen. Victor was dying in Russia. And I wasn't so sure he had set me up.

Victor seemed like a preposterous candidate for the queen's murder now that I thought about it. While it was still possible that it had been him, I had this persistent feeling that he hadn't done anything more. Victor was desperate, driven to make rash decisions by his desire to live. I did not see what he stood to gain by killing the queen. He was disgraced and dying; Even if he were still a possible candidate for the crown, it wouldn't behoove him to kill the queen. He had more to lose by that than he stood to gain.

Whoever had killed the queen was much closer than I thought they were. I did not know who had killed her, although I was fairly certain it had been the man who's prints were on my stake. Emilio Kurtwright, whoever he was. I did not know who he was or what reason he had for killing the queen, but I was certain that he was around here just waiting to watch me fall.

I scanned the room for any suspicious faces, but nobody looked out of place. I wondered whether Austin had found a picture; I had been so worried about the trial that I hadn't even thought to ask him. I could always use my stake as evidence that I was not guilty, but blaming the murder on Emilio would only work if anybody even knew who he was. And from what I gathered, nobody had any idea.

I tried to prepare myself for what was about to come, thinking of things that I could say to alleviate the suspicion that was connected with my name. I was grateful at least that I had figured out what I did already; if we had waited to get a hold of Stake or Sydney, I would have nothing to go on. I would have only my stake, with no knowledge of whose fingerprints were on it…

My mind came to a standstill as a sudden thought occurred to me. My fingerprints were not on the stake. My fingerprints were nowhere on my stake. We had assumed that was because there were two stakes in circulation. If that were true, then it stood to reason that Iris Kane still had the other stake in her possession. That would be good for me, because then I could prove…what, exactly? That somebody else had a stake that looked exactly like mine? We hadn't had it analyzed for blood, and so we didn't know if the stake had been the one that was used to kill the queen or not. The second stake could prove pointless.

But I had another theory. It occurred to me that maybe there never were two stakes. Maybe we were wrong to assume that whoever had killed Tatiana had been some sort of criminal mastermind. What if Iris Kane was part of the dark side? What if the same stake with Emilio's fingerprints on it was really my stake, and it was the one that had killed the queen? What if my fingerprints were not really on it? We had been told my fingerprints were on it, but we did not know who had conducted that analysis, and we did not see any proof of that claim. What if Iris Kane was working with whoever had killed the queen? It was plausible, but it still didn't explain why they would set me up. I hadn't even known Iris before my trial.

I decided to share my theories with Dimitri, who tried not to look as doubtful as he really was. He didn't want me to lose all the hope that I had just given myself, but he did not want me getting wild hope from some crazy ideas. He did not think it likely that Iris was corrupt. I argued the point with him for a while. Forever seemed to pass in which nothing happened, except for my agony to grow and mount up again. We exchanged theories and ideas, until the judge finally walked in.

Everybody stood up when she entered. I noticed it was the same woman from my hearing, which was a small comfort. She entered from the front of the room unannounced rather than having the bailiff inform the crowd of her arrival. She rushed up the aisle, looking from side to side. I noticed that nobody was sitting in the chair where Iris should have been. My prosecution was late. I hoped that the judge would give her hell for that one.

But the judge was headed for me. She looked at Dimitri in surprise, then shifted her gaze to me. "Where's your lawyer?"

"Abe's been held up. I don't think he got the memo that the trial had been pushed up." I didn't mean to sound as spiteful as I did, but the judge did not seem to hold that against me.

"Opposing council is absent." The judge informed me, as if I hadn't noticed. I nodded, hoping she was about to ask me what I thought she should do to Iris for holding up the proceedings. But she did not say anything. She straightened up and headed to the front of the room, garnering the attention of the crowd. Slowly, everybody fell silent as they turned to look at her. "The prosecution has requested a substitute." She informed us all. There was a dull buzz among the crowd as they processed that news. I stole a glance at Dimitri, but he didn't seem to be any more clued in than I. "Due to unforeseen circumstances, Ms. Kane is unable to attend this trial. In her place we will appoint Daniella Ivashkov."

I almost laughed. I turned to find Daniella, who had risen to walk forward to the foremost table. She avoided my gaze as she made her journey, and I was convinced that this was an elaborate joke. But it wasn't. She was entirely serious. She shuffled through the notes on the desk, keeping herself busy so that she did not have to look up and meet my impenetrable stare. The audience was a chorus of frenzied whispers. The judge raised a hand and the room fell silent. She turned to look at me. "If you would like to appoint a new defense, now would be the time."

_Shit. _I was being given a chance to fight, but I had nobody to fight for me. I looked at Dimitri, who seemed to be able to read my thoughts. He nodded, and I made my decision. "Guardian Belikov and I will handle the allegations against me." I said, sure to point out that I was going to stick up for myself. I wasn't sure why Iris hadn't made it to court, but I was grateful, since it gave me an opportunity to have Dimitri help me out. I would not have to go through this alone.

"Due to the recent change in appointed council, we will take a short recess. Court will resume at seven forty five."

I glanced at the clock. That gave us fifteen minutes to confer. I wasn't sure what Dimitri and I had to talk about, but it was a relief to have that extra time to try and put together a shield. I turned around to look at Christian, who leaned forward in his seat so that I could speak to him.

"I'm screwed." I told him grimly.

He did not have a smart ass comment for me, partially because Tasha distracted him by leaning into his row and tapping him on the shoulder. She whispered something to him, and I watched as his face paled a little. His shock was evident as he turned back around to relay whatever Tasha had told him.

"Iris Kane is dead. They found her in her office."

"Oh shit." That was my automatic response. I thought of how I had felt the desire last night to go into her office; I wondered when she had died. "I suppose she had a stake shoved through her heart too?"

Christian shook his head. "No. She was decapitated."

**a/n: alright, I really wanted to get this chapter out to you tonight. it's a pretty long one too, so i hope you enjoyed it. i thought it was a rather good one; at least, i liked it :) i'm glad that victor apologized. i struggled between making it just right, so that he wasn't all corny, but i really liked victor until he hatched his nefarious schemes, and i really believe he feels bad for what he did. not that it is excusable, but at least he said he was sorry. i know i threw in three big shockers for you, and you are all probably reeling: victor apologized, daniella is going to be rose's prosecutor, and iris was decapitated. any paralell to the dead squirrel? maybe... let me know what you think. i hope you enjoyed it as much as i did. and to all my little dimitri lovers, you should check out the quick fic i wrote today about dimitri's POV after he lies to rose in the church and says he doesn't love her. it my make some of you happy. as always, review! =D i love love love it and i love love love you :) sweet dreams, friends**

**xxBelleCeline**


	44. Chapter 44

"I suppose I'll be blamed for that too." I whispered to Dimitri as the judge entered the room. "I touched her door last night."

Dimitri gave me a disapproving look. "I think they're smart enough to realize a seventeen year old girl didn't decapitate a middle aged moroi."

"Says who?" I demanded. "They seem to think I walk on water."

"Jesus walked on water, Roza," He informed me, his lips twitching slightly. "Jesus was the good guy."

"Well, either way." I muttered, my eyes on the judge. I turned to look at Daniella again in disbelief. I wasn't sure what made her qualified to ask me questions in a court of law, but I suppose I could have asked the same thing of Dimitri. I could not believe that she was sitting there. She was the one now who was trying to get me killed. While I couldn't believe that she would do that, maybe it was for the best. Maybe Daniella would ask questions that would help me. Besides, with their key evidence missing, their attack had to be full of holes, right?

The judge stood up and everybody fell silent as she spoke. "We are gathered for the decision on Rose Hathaway versus the Royal Court." The judge turned to Daniella. "Mrs. Ivashkov, please proceed with opening statements."

Daniella gave a curt little nod of her head and stood up, pushing her chair out behind her. She adjusted the collar of her shirt and cleared her throat, looking at the piece of paper in her hands. I felt bad for her since this must not be easy, but that disappeared when she started talking. Daniella was not new to this at all; She was a pro.

"There is considerable evidence linking Rosemarie Hathaway to the murder of Tatiana Ivashkov on June 26th. You will hear from Miss Hathaway all about how she did not kill the queen, and you will hear her alibi. During the proceedings you will hear all of Miss Hathaway's ill composed defense. But you will _see_ the evidence against her. At the end of the trial, the answer will be clear. As you listen to the claims of both parties, I want you to consider the situation before you."

Daniella gave a little nod of her head again and returned to stand behind her desk. I was trying not to think of how stupid her opening statement was, since they _had_ to consider the situation before them. If they didn't, they would have no reason to be there. The judge looked in my direction, and a quick glance with Dimitri settled the matter. He stood up and walked out into the open, looking fierce.

"My client," He cast a look at me, and I wanted to giggle at that. But I did not giggle. It was not something I made a habit of, and I wasn't about to start now. "has been wrongly accused. In the haste for justice for our Queen, Rosemarie Hathaway has been made to appear a murderer. I assure you that the evidence presented herein will prove to you that Miss Hathaway is innocent of all charges."

Dimitri returned to his seat without looking at me. His hand reached for mine under the table, and as we wrapped them together the judge stood up again. "We have selected an anonymous jury for these proceedings due to a conflict of interest. Bear that in mind when both sides are making their cases."

I looked over at Daniella, wondering if she had already known that. She looked a little bit shocked, but she didn't seem too broken up about that. Dimitri looked at the judge suspiciously, as if she were playing a joke on us. But she was serious, and she looked to Daniella again to begin her attack.

I could not believe that she was ok with this, just taking me down. How had she even been appointed prosecutor in my case anyways? I was certain they had other lawyers on the court's grounds. Why Daniella, who may know what she was doing, but was not a practicing lawyer? When she turned to face me, that apologetic look she'd had before had more or less disappeared, replaced by a hard wall, not betraying of any emotions.

"Miss Hathaway, would you take the stand?"

I looked at Dimitri for his opinion, but it didn't seem like I had much choice anyways. I stood up wordlessly and made my way to the bench at the front of the room, all too aware of the eyes upon me. Daniella shifted some papers around, then looked to the corner, where a large man emerged with a bible under his arm. He placed it in front of me, and directing my hand to the top of the holy testament, bade me to repeat after him. I repeated the words, swearing to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. When I had promised not to lie before God, the man moved away and Daniella began her crusade.

"Where were you on the night in question?" She asked, looking at me imperiously. I still could not grasp that somebody I had liked was trying to bring me down. But even though I liked Daniella, she was the bad guy here. I had to fight fire with fire.

"Which night?"

"The night that the queen was murdered." Daniella looked confused

"Which queen?" I asked, just to be certain.

"Queen Tatiana Ivashkov. Where were you when she was murdered?"

I stayed quiet a moment, wondering how to twist that one. "When was she murdered?"

Daniella looked like she could bound across the floor and strangle me. "June 26th. Of this year. Where were you that night?" I looked up at Dimitri and saw the warning in his face. I sighed.

"I was in my room."

"You were in your room the whole night?" Daniella's voice was high pitched, like she was talking to a child and she just couldn't believe what they were saying.

"Yes. Most of the day too."

"And by day you mean…?"

I looked at her incredulously. Her cross-examination was retarded. "I mean the time when it was dark out. Our day, the human night. And before you ask, when I say night I mean the time when the sun was up."

Daniella stared at me for a moment, stunned by my cheek. She was quick to recover. "And so while the sun was up, you were in your room?"

"That is correct. I was sleeping."

"Can you prove that you were in your room, Miss Hathaway?"

"Of course I can." I laughed, scorning her. "I wasn't alone."

"Who was in the room with you?"

"Adrian Ivashkov." Daniella already knew that, but throwing it in her face gave me some small measure of satisfaction. I couldn't bring myself to look over at Dimitri's face. "Your son." I elaborated, just in case she had forgotten. There was a low murmuring from the people in the crowd, no doubt thinking what a scandal this was, and how promiscuous I must be.

"Was Lord Ivashkov with you the entire night?"

"As a matter of fact, yes."

"What was the point of him coming to visit you?"

As she asked that question, I wondered whether it was as a prosecutor or as a mother. She probably thought I was using her son for a booty call or something.

"We'd been in a fight earlier that morning. He came to make amends." It wasn't exactly the whole truth, but I wasn't going to confess before the court that the reason he had come knocking was to relay information about Eric Dragomir.

"So then did you make amends?"

"Yes." Daniella knew that also.

"And so he stayed in your room?"

"Yes."

"Where did he sleep?"

I wanted to laugh. I couldn't believe Daniella was asking this. She was throwing her son's intimate life out into the public. It wasn't characteristic of high society moroi to air their dirty laundry. "On the bed."

"And where did you sleep?"

"On the bed."

"So if you had gotten up in the middle of the night, he would have known about it?"

I hesitated. I had woken up in the morning before him and gone to the café for breakfast. He hadn't woken up when I'd gotten out of bed at that point.

Everybody noticed my moment of hesitation. Daniella repeated her question. "He would have noticed." I said meekly.

"What time did Adrian come visit you?" She was relentless. She barely gave me a chance to finish answering one question before she was asking me another.

"I don't know."

"You don't know?" Daniella repeated, disbelieving. "Don't you have a clue?"

"It was probably around nine o'clock."

"Do you know when the murder took place, Miss Hathaway?"

"Between seven and eight." I remembered that Iris had mentioned that at my hearing.

"Our experts have placed the time around seven forty five. Therefore, prior to Lord Ivashkov arriving at your room, you were alone." There was no question in her inflection, but she paused to give me a chance of rebuttal.

"Yes, but I didn't-"

"How long were you in your room?" Daniella cut me off.

"I-what?"

"When did you go back to your room?"

"It was after church." I didn't really remember when I'd gone to church. I woke up, went to the lobby, talked to Adrian, found Dimitri. I recalled the bells. "Probably around six."

"So you allege that you were in your room from six until nine o'clock when Lord Ivashkov showed up at your door."

"Yes." I felt as though she were beating me over the head with a hammer. Nothing she was asking really seemed prudent. Of course, it was all relevant, but it was hardly anything I could use as a crutch to get me out of this mess.

"That's a long time to stay in one place, wouldn't you say, Miss Hathaway?" Daniella's eyes gleamed, and something about that scared me. I didn't know whether she was on my side and only putting up appearances or whether she was seriously trying to take me down. She seemed to be doing a good job if her intent was the latter. "What did you do in your room for those many hours?"

"I was thinking." And moping. And hating my life.

"Thinking about what?"

"Personal stuff."

"You are on trial for murder, Miss Hathaway." She had always called me Rose. Now she was saying my last name so many times I was ready to punch her in the mouth. "Nothing is personal anymore."

"I was thinking about my boyfriend." It took great control on my part to answer her.

"And your boyfriend is…?"

"At the time, it was Adrian Ivashkov."

"Why were you thinking about him?"

"Because…" I'd been thinking of how I had messed everything up. About how I had neither Adrian or Dimitri. How I needed them both…

"Were you thinking about how upset he would be when he discovered that his great aunt was dead?"

"What? No."

"So you didn't care how he would feel?"

My mouth fell open in shock. I made a conscious effort to close it. "I didn't know that was going to happen!"

The facts were glaringly clear now. Daniella was the enemy here. "Right." Her tone was noncommittal, and she looked down at her notes a moment before turning to look at me again, switching gears. "You went to church that day?"

"Yes."

"How often do you attend mass?"

"Every once in a while." I said vaguely. My standing agreement with God was not something I wanted to explain to the court.

"Why did you choose to attend mass on that particular day? Did you need to repent? Did you want to ask forgiveness from future sins?"

I wished Iris hadn't died. I would gladly take her over Daniella, because she was really starting to piss me off. If I put her in a coma, Adrian would probably never talk to me again. At least I could have verbally kicked Iris' ass without anybody caring…much. "I wanted to see a friend."

"What friend, Miss Hathaway?"

I sighed, gathering my patience. I felt like the rest of the room fell away like cardboard scenery and it was just Daniella and I, standing face to face, prepared for a duel. I needed to remain calm. Dimitri's eyes flashed me that soothing look and I sighed. "Guardian Dimitri Belikov."

"The same Dimitri Belikov who was once a strigoi?" As if she didn't know.

"Yes." I said icily.

"Why did you want to see Mr. Belikov?" She didn't bother with his title, I noticed.

"Because he is a friend of mine."

Daniella looked as if that was exactly the response she had been hoping for. "Was he a friend of yours _before_ he was a stigoi?"

"Yes."

"What is the nature of your relationship with Belikov? How did you guys become friends?"

"He was my teacher." I admitted, hoping that my cheeks were not as red as they felt.

"Your teacher." Daniella repeated, seemingly satisfied. "So you dropped out of school to 'save' your teacher?"

"Yes."

"What a dedicated student." I ignored the comment. "You went to Russia. How long were you there?"

"A few months." I didn't know the specifics.

"That's quite some time. Where did you stay?"

"Hotels."

"You stayed in hotels for months? That must have cost quite a lot."

I had a flash of genius strike me at her words. "It _was_ expensive. The trip was entirely funded by my boyfriend Adrian Ivashkov." Daniella's face was priceless. She clearly hadn't know that. "Your son used money from his trust fund to help me track down Guardian Belikov."

Daniella would have lunged across the room and clawed my eyes out if we were not before the entire moroi court. "I do not believe that Lord Ivashkov had such great finances. He could not afford to put you in a hotel for that long."

"I didn't stay in a hotel the whole time." I insisted. "I stayed a night with an acquaintance, and then for some while with the Belikov family, and the remainder of the trip in a friend's apartment."

"You stayed with the Belikov's?" I think she forgot we were in a formal court situation. She was gaping at me openly, and I couldn't help the smug smile on my face.

"Yes."

"The family of _Dimitri_ Belikov?"

"Yes."

"Why did you stay there?"

"They were very nice." I smiled, feigning innocence. "They welcomed me into their home."

"How many people lived in the house?" Daniella was regaining control.

"I'm not sure." I thought about that. Yeva, Olena, Sonya, Karolina, Viktoria, Paul, and the baby. "Seven, I think."

"Did Dimitri Belikov live there?"

"Not when I was there."

"Where did Mr. Belikov stay in his recent trip to Russia?"

"With his former mentor." I wasn't sure where Daniella was trying to take this, but I was beginning to grow uncomfortable for Dimitri's sake. I shot him an apologetic look.

"His mentor? A dhampir?"

"A strigoi." That was the answer she had expected. While most everyone gasped, Daniella smiled like the cat who ate the canary.

"How many strigoi stayed in that place?"

"I don't know. Seven?" It was a wild guess.

"Seven people in the Belikov home, and seven strigoi under one roof?"

"I'm not sure." I wasn't lying. I had no idea what answer she wanted from me.

"How did you find Mr. Belikov?"

"He found me." I admitted.

"So then did you go out to lunch to catch up? You are friends, and that is what friends do when they haven't seen each other a while." She was trying, and failing, to justify her idiotic question.

"No. He kidnapped me."

"Mr. Belikov _kidnapped _you?"

"Yes."

"And where did he take you?"

"To the place where he was staying. The home of his mentor."

"Where there were seven strigoi?"

"Or eight." I shrugged casually.

"How did you escape?" Her voice held all the fascination of a non-partisan bystander, but I could see through her façade. I wasn't going to humor her with an elaborate story.

"I ran away."

"From seven strigoi?"

"Possibly."

"And then you made it safely back to the U.S.?"

"What does any of this have to do with this trial?" I looked at the judge, who was apparently wondering the same thing. Daniella was not about to be swayed by that.

"Answer the questions, Miss Hathaway."

"I thought I had killed him. I came back to the U.S. because my job was done."

"But it wasn't?"

"I received a letter from him after I returned."

"So he was alive?"

"Undead." I corrected her with a simpering smile. "He was still a strigoi."

"You left the court a few weeks back. Where did you go?" I wondered whether there was a method to her madness or if she was just desperate to fill the shoes Damon had left her.

"We went to Las Vegas."

"Why did you go there? You were not yet eighteen. You could not gamble or drink."

Adrian could have done enough of that for all of us, and I thought of making that known to her. But I did not want to drag Adrian's name through the mud. "We wanted to have fun while we still could."

"What do you mean, while you still could? You anticipated an end to your freedom?"

"Lissa was going to be going to college and I would be assigned as a guardian. We knew we wouldn't have much time together."

"Do you remember which day you went to Las Vegas?"

"No." I answered honestly. Since Dimitri had been turned Strigoi, my life had been a big mash-up of days and nights, moments running together all the same.

"It was May 23rd. The day that Victor Dashkov was sprung from prison."

"I-"

The doors flew open suddenly, and everybody turned around to look. My heart swelled with relief as Abe strode up the aisle, casting Daniella a look of such hatred that it burned through me. He was dressed as sharp as ever, and he looked exactly the way he had when I'd last seen him, except for the vehemence on his face. That was new. And it was terrifying. I was surprised Daniella didn't pee her pants. "You can quit harassing my daughter now, you pompous bitch."

a/n: this was a longg chapter because of the dialogue. it took me forever to write. i kept losing my motivation and getting bored with plotting the trial. i did not even edit this, because i knew that if i did i would not be able to post it today and i can not make you guys wait a day more. it's just not fair to you guys. i am sorry it took as long as it did to start with, but up until today i had two pages typed. it ended up being nine, so i was a machine today! that said, i know it's boring, but i hope that you at least enjoyed the end. i had to get past all of that crap so i could start with the fun stuff again (i.e. Abe ). i have to go to work, and i really don't want to, so you guys should tell me all about what you think and it will give me something to look forward to while it rains and we're slow :) much love, and again, i am soo sorry.

p.s. did anybody look at my number of reviews? we are so close to six hundred! y'all are amazing! ;)


	45. Chapter 45

"Mr. Mazur!" Exclaimed the judge, aghast. She looked as though Abe had just

made a sexual reference, but I suspected that would be equally displeasing for her. Daniella looked incapable of rational thought; Her mouth hung open (most unattractively) and her eyes were wide with shock. And probably fear.

Abe walked right up to Daniella, ignoring the sentiments of the judge and the murmurs that were rippling through the crowd. "I don't take kindly to treachery." He told her in a deep voice that was full of menace. I wondered for a brief moment how Abe had known that Daniella had been my friend, then recalled how he had been in Russia with Adrian the past week. It was a challenge to keep the smug smile off my face, because I was very proud of my father in that moment. I looked at Dimitri and received a second shock when I saw who was sitting behind him. My mother, Janine Hathaway, sat in the row. It was a shock because I hadn't expected her, and because she was sitting. She was almost always standing to demonstrate her alert state of mind and her formal guardian training. She saw me looking, and though her face was hard to read, she smiled at me.

"Mr. Mazur, I will have order in this court!" The judge said loudly. Abe continued to stare at Daniella a moment, before turning slowly to face the judge. At my hearing he had been flirtatious towards her. Now he was simply in business mode, any vestige of his casual, playful air gone.

"I am her lawyer, your honor."

"Hathaway's lawyer?" She clarified, more for the benefit of everyone else then for me. She knew that from my hearing.

"Yes."

"Miss Hathaway has an acting lawyer. Somebody has already stepped up to represent her."

Abe turned to look at Dimitri, and though I couldn't see Abe's face, I was sure it must have been fierce. Dimitri stood up wordlessly and moved to sit on the bench behind him with Jill and Christian. The look Abe fixed the judge with was nothing short of smug. She sighed.

"Go ahead then, Mr. Mazur. Take your seat. Opposing counsel has the floor right now. You will wait until such a time when the floor is relinquished to you for the presentation of your own evidence."

Abe sat down, looking disgusted and relieved at the same time. I tried to catch his eye, but he seemed to be avoiding me tactfully. I didn't have time to consider it, because Daniella seemed to shake off the threat and insult and come back into the present. She looked at me with a smile that was not at all as pleasant as it looked.

"Miss Hathaway, do you recall where we left off before that rude interruption?"

I really wanted to lie, to fake innocence and a naïve sense, but I couldn't lie. My palms were sweaty as I answered. "Yes."

"You left court on May 23rd. That was the same day Victor Dashkov escaped from jail. Did you know that?"

I nodded. Daniella gave me a questioning look, and I knew she wasn't satisfied by the gesture. "Yes."

"So then on the day that you went to Las Vegas, Victor Dashkov was broken from a high security prison by two girls and a boy. Are you aware of that?"

I felt a sinking feeling dropping into the pit of my stomach. She was going to out me in front of the entire courtroom at a trial for a crime I didn't actually commit. I wasn't sure how she thought this was relevant, but I didn't really want to know. I just wanted to get out of there. "Yes."

"Hm." Daniella's mouth twitched. "And when you went on your road trip, you brought along a guardian? One who had just graduated." She looked down at her papers, confirming her next words. "Eddie Castile."

"He came along to protect Lissa."

"You weren't sure that you were sufficient?"

"Royal Moroi often have two guardians." I murmured. "Particularly since she is the last in her line."

"Admirable intentions you had, no doubt." She was stringing me along.

"Hey, Ivashkov, why don't you wrap this up?" Abe was smiling at Daniella when I turned to look at him. It was wide and toothy, reminding me of the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland. It sent a few chills down my spine.

Daniella ignored him. "Do you know what a lapse in time there was between you leaving court and allegedly arriving in Las Vegas?"

"I wasn't wearing a watch." I said honestly.

"There was a significant amount of time. You must have had a layover."

"Yes."

"Was it cheaper that way?"

"I didn't pay for it, so I can't be sure." I shrugged, trying to shake away the piercing stare Daniella was giving me.

"What did you do while you were in between flights, Miss Hathaway?"

I closed my eyes, gathering my patience. I was about to yell at Daniella and say we had done something obscene like play I Spy, but I couldn't. I had to stay in control. "We talked."

"Of course you did." Daniella's smile was awful. She looked so superior; She thought she was so superior. "When you were in Las Vegas, you ran into Strigoi."

"Yes."

"That's rare. It was daylight when that happened? Very odd that a strigoi would-"

"_Enough_!" One voice broke through Daniella's interrogation, casting the room into a deathly still silence. Everybody was looking at my mother in surprise. She stood up, her face angry and determined, and pointed a finger at Daniella as if she were about to scold her. "You are leading the witness, Ivashkov, and getting nowhere. If your goal is to prove that you are profoundly inept as an attorney, then I must congratulate you on a job well done. You have certainly proven to this court the depth of your ignorance. If it pleases the court, we request a recess." My mother looked at the judge, seeking permission. My judge looked as though she were in need of a migraine tablet.

"Yes. But I want you all back here in fifteen minutes." She stood up so quickly she would have knocked over her chair had it not been for the fact that it were so heavy. I stood up, feeling like Jello, and moved towards my parents without sparing Daniella a backwards glance.

"Rose,"

My mother looked like she would cry as she wrapped her arms around me. That was rare. "We have proof that you are innocent."

I pulled away, looking at Abe for confirmation. _"_Innocent of killing the queen. Is there anything you need to tell us? Something that you _did _do?"

I looked around, assessing the situation. There were not too many people in ear shot, but I wasn't going to take that chance. "No."

Both Abe and my mother looked at me distrustfully, but their attention turned from me when Daniella crossed the room, coming to stand close to our group. She looked slightly scared of my parents. Not me, though. She looked at me intently. "I know what you did." She told me coldly. "And you _will _pay for it."

Abe moved in a flash, and though he was nowhere near her, Daniella got the hint and scampered away to the side of the room where her husband sat with the other members of the royal court. "I can't believe she would do this to me." I said quietly, looking after her. I was trying to portray my hatred, but I felt more dejected than anything. How could Adrian's mom have been playing me for a fool? She was determined to pin me with the blame for killing the queen. I hadn't thought her to be so…vindictive. And for what? Did she honestly believe I killed Tatiana? Or was she just desperate for some justice?

"Believe it. You know nothing about that woman." My mother's tone of disgust shot another thrill of surprise through me. Never had I heard my mother speak ill of a moroi. Particularly a high society moroi.

"She is going to drag this out." I groaned.

"No. When we resume, your father will speak."

I looked at Abe, surprised. "Daniella has the floor."

"I will have my say." Abe promised. It came across as a threat, but I knew it was intended for Daniella, and so I did not bother worrying about it. Realizing my only free moment, I decided to check on Lissa. With Abe and my mother here, Lissa was a few people less protected in a foreign country, and I didn't like that notion at all.

Lissa was shoving stuff in a bag, furiously tossing the contents of her dresser into the single suitcase she had taken to Russia. Adrian sat on the bed in a sort of daze, not even watching what Lissa was doing. It was hard even for me to watch what Lissa was doing because there were tears in her eyes. I knew she was upset because she wasn't here for my trial. But there was more than that. She was angry, and that was only contributing to her tears.

"I just don't believe this." Adrian said slowly, his voice hardly anything above a whisper.

Lissa did not show any indication that she had heard him, though she obviously had, since I'd heard it. She ignored him like he wasn't there without even having to make a conscious decision to ignore him. The door opened, and though they both heard it, they did not pay it any attention.

Katia sidled into the room and sat on the bed next to Adrian, slightly on the edge so that she was removed from them. She looked ill at ease and a few moments of heavy silence passed before she spoke.

"I'm sorry about your friend." Katia finally spoke, her voice low and innocent. I would have thought she was trying to pull the wool over Adrian's eyes, except she wasn't talking to Adrian. She was talking to Lissa.

Lissa turned around in a flash; the anger in her face was visible in the glossy reflection of Katia's eyes. And yet, Katia didn't flinch. "She is _not_ my friend." Lissa said, her voice tense with her anxiety.

"Well now she's a strigoi. But you _were _friends, right? Best friends."

I was sure my heart stopped beating, if only for a moment. Whether it was conceit or the fact that I thought I was Lissa's best friend, I figured they were talking about me. And I was _not _a Strigoi. Unless they had developed some new spirit ability to see the future. Oh, damn, that would make everything _so_ much easier.

"Shut up." Adrian groaned, half-heartedly delivering an elbow to Katia's ribs.

Katia looked confused, but Lissa was there to clear the air. "Avery Lazar was not my friend!" She snapped. "She was cruel and manipulative, and she deserves to be where she is!"

"Nobody deserves that." Katia contested quietly, her eyes averted.

"You didn't know her." The vehemence in Lissa's voice was disturbing. I wasn't used to such displays from her.

"You forgave the man who kidnapped you and tortured you. But not the girl who was your friend?"

"Avery was faking it. At least Victor had good intentions!"

Katia giggled, and when I looked at her I thought of a school girl. They had made her out to be crazy, but she seemed to be keeping her head pretty well. I was beginning to think she was totally normal, and she was only pretending to be ditzy and crazy. "He wanted to hurt you." She said, staring at Lissa as if she was trying to figure something out. "He was a bad person."

"_You_ are a bad person." Lissa said loudly. "You are speaking ill of the dead."

"I'm not trying to offend anybody." Katia's hands were up, demonstrating her innocence. "I just think that you should try to save her."

Lissa laughed, but the sound was cruel and near hysterical. "Try to save the person who tried to kill me? No thanks."

"It's cruel that you would walk away from her." Katia sounded let down. Her disappointment was tangible.

"Well if you care so much about her, why don't you save her?" It was Adrian that proposed that, but Lissa agreed. Realizing she was outnumbered, Katia drew out her white flag of surrender.

"I didn't mean to make you mad. If I was half as great as you are, I _would_ help her." Katia looked sad, but she shook her head, ignoring it, and walked out the door.

Adrian and Lissa shared a look, and I could feel their mutual feelings. Guilt, anger, fear. I was not entirely sure what was going on, but I could gather that Avery was now a Strigoi. Or at least, I thought she must be. I didn't have time to figure that out for sure, though, because I was being forced to retreat back into my own mind.

The judge did not look at all happy to be back, but she stood before us with a pinched expression. Silence fell around the room. "Let's proceed." She announced, seemingly irritated. I looked over at Daniella, who gave the judge a curt nod and turned to me.

"Miss Hathaway, would you kindly resume the stand?"

I moved to step forward, but a hand on my shoulder stopped me. Turning around, I saw Abe holding me back. My mother stood up, looking at the judge critically. I wondered why, and remembered briefly how Abe had greeted her at my hearing. Surely Janine Hathaway wasn't jealous…

"Your honor," My mother's voice was soft and sweet like honey. It was a sound I had never heard from her, and I almost didn't believe it. And then I realized that it was fake. The judge knew it. And Daniella must have known it too, judging by the suspicious look she was giving her. "If it pleases the court, we would like to present evidence out of turn that will end this trial prematurely."

My judge looked all too happy about that. She looked at Daniella, whose face was doubtful. But when she realized the judge was contemplating it, she became outraged. "Your honor," She protested, "What a foolish thing to ask. All of the evidence must be presented. In moving up their presentation, they have nothing to gain."

"On the contrary," Abe was grinning. From the corner of my eye, I saw the grin he gave Daniella. Whatever was going on was over my head. "We believe the whole trial will take a turn after we disclose to you our knowledge."

"You can't just-"

"Silence, Mrs. Ivashkov." The judge's voice was strong enough to cut off Daniella's protests. "While it is unorthodox, and you can rest assured that all evidence will be analyzed thoroughly, I would like to hear what the defendant believes will be enough to clear her name. We are dealing with a high profile murder case with charges of treason. If any of the headache you've been giving me can be ignored in the future by allowing this concession, then please proceed."

"Thank you, Paula." Abe flashed a charming grin, and the judge seemed to stiffen a little. "Miss Hathaway, would you take the stand?"

I looked nervously between my mother and Abe. They seemed cool and confident. I wished I could have borrowed some of their assurance. With the slightest nod, I moved to the stand and swore under oath yet again. When I had made my promise, Abe smiled. "Do you consider yourself a woman of religion, Miss Hathaway?"

My heart skipped. What kind of question was _that? _"I…"

"I'm so sorry. Let me rephrase that. What is your relationship with Jesus Christ?"

If it were somebody else on trial, I think I would have laughed. The question was asinine at best, and not really relevant. As it was, I was not watching the trial. I was supposed to be answering questions here. But really, my own father couldn't throw me a bone? "I trust in him." I answered shakily. That was true. I did believe in him. Sort of…

"Do you fear God?"

I had to consider that one. "Yes."

"But do you live for him? Do you expunge yourself of all sins, seek repentance in light of mistakes?"

"I…" I had to be honest. Not that honesty was going to help me. But I could not lie about God when I'd just sworn on his name. "No."

"No. So then what good is it for you to swear upon the Holy Testament? How can we be sure that you tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, if you are not scared to commit sins before him?"

My parents were turning too, I was sure of it. It seemed like everybody was against me. There was no way that they thought this was actually going to help me get into good standing to prove my innocence.

"None, but-"

"None." Abe repeated loudly. He looked pleased with himself as he turned to the judge. "She stands before us and we take her account as truth because she has sworn before God, but we have no reason to believe her. We have to fix that."

"No games, Mr. Mazur. You claimed a speedy trial."

"No games, Paula." He winked. I felt like throwing up would be appropriate, but I hadn't eaten since that pizza, and so it wasn't going to happen. "I believe Miss Hathaway should be held accountable for the truth. And since we can't trust her words while she is fully capable of monitoring her answers, I propose we take away her ability to filter her thoughts.

"If you are suggesting a lobotomy-" Daniella began, her voice irate. Abe didn't allow her to finish.

"We have found the best Hypnotic Induction Therapist in all of the world. His name is Sir Johnathan Waidan-Drozdov." Abe turned around and scanned the seats, until his eyes fell on Sir Drozdov. He stood at Abe's gesture, tucking a clipboard under his arm. I was shocked. Daniella seemed to be the only person that shared the same level of surprise as myself.

"Hypnotic Induction Therapist?" The judge said critically, appraising the man who had stood.

"Correct. Sir Drozdov once lived at the court. Unfortunately, his experiments with compulsion had him excommunicated to Russia twenty eight years ago. The Russians are much more accepting of change." Abe smiled. "He perfected his art. Sir Drozdov is the go-to man for any circumstance where there is a questionable truth. Sir Drozdov can compel anyone into anything. It is our suggestion that he hold Miss Hathaway under compulsion during her testimony, so that we can rest assured that we hear only the truth from her."

The judge looked intrigued. Dimitri looked hopeful. I wasn't sure how I looked, but I did feel panicked. I couldn't let them question me under compulsion; What if it got out that I had broken Victor out of prison? Worse yet, what if they found out that Lissa and Eddie had helped break Victor out of prison? Hell, even Adrian was an accessory now. Dimitri too, and with the recent heat on him over the strigoi madness, he couldn't afford that. I couldn't let anybody find out.

"What you are proposing is a new prospect." The judge softly. "Sir Drozdov, do you have any credentials to back up your claims?"

"Yes, ma'am. Your honor." Sir Drozdov was a portly man with a receding hairline and glasses that were too small for his face, but something about his presence was calming. He looked pleasant enough, but I couldn't let them do this. It was too big a risk. He moved forward and produced his clipboard. The guardian who had sworn me in stopped the man halfway up the aisle and took the clipboard. The judge looked over the contents without making a sound. It only took her a few moments to look through it all, but those few moments felt like they would span an eternity.

"These are impressive, Sir Drozdov."

"Thank you, your honor." His mouth twitched, like he was trying not to smile.

The judge sighed, handing the files back down to the guardian, who passed them along to their owner.

"I will allow you to proceed. With Miss Hathaway's concession, of course." Everyone turned to look at me. I didn't mind attention, but knowing that my secrets were in danger of coming out, I was nervous.

My mother smiled at me encouragingly. She was acting so unusual today, and I could not help but wonder what had gotten into her. Abe looked at me incredulously, taking my hesitation as a direct insult. "I don't know."

"You will be completely safe under his compulsion." My mother insisted.

"If you have nothing to hide, this will be quick and painless." Sir Drozdov assured me, smiling. But I did have something to hide. Daniella had been perilously close to touching on the matter before.

"There is something…" I muttered. Daniella straightened up, her interest piqued. My mother looked terrified, and Abe looked like he might have choked me. I glanced at Dimitri. We'd always understood each other so perfectly. He knew what I was going to do before I did it, but he did not have the means to stop me. I took a deep breath. "I broke Victor Dashkov out of prison."

A/n: so school eats all of my time. and then work. and then my friends, family, boyfriend. and i have wanted to write, but nothing has been good and i had serious writers block. so that's why it took sooo long to get out. but i have even more novel ideas from my break and i was able to take serious steps with my own novel (I think) so i hope it wasn't too bad. nobody sent me any hate messages! i'm going to work now, and then i will start 46 when i get home. i go on vacation fri and sat, so i may have another chapter for you before i go on vacation again next thursday. ah! i love you guys, and i really hate to make you wait or leave you with questions...ok, maybe not the last part. i like leaving you in suspense. :) I love you all. keep doing what you do and review:) p.s. in chapter forty four, I did mean that she wasn't twenty one. i got confused because Lissa wasn't eighteen yet. Whoops :) Thanks for pointing it out!

love, belleC


	46. Chapter 46

The court's outrage at Abe's sudden and brash behavior was nothing compared to the chaos that broke out at my confession. I didn't have time to focus on what everybody was saying, but I caught a glimpse of my mother's distraught face from across the room. Abe did not look surprised, so much as stressed out that I had copped up to my crime. He had probably known it had been me all along.

My only bargaining chip was my confession. I had no other ammunition. I had not killed the queen, and yet I was being accused of it. The only chance I had of convincing them that I was innocent of such a heinous crime was coming entirely clean and allowing myself to be compelled into the truth. And if I were to be compelled, I wasn't sure exactly what would be asked. I knew from my experiment with Adrian that I could resist compulsion to a fair degree, but nobody else knew that. And I _wanted _to tell the truth. This evidence was in my favor. But I couldn't take the chance of something as huge as that coming out under these circumstances. It was better to admit to it and take my punishment as it was administered than to deny it and be caught in a lie, for which the punishment would be more extreme. From what I understood, treason was the only crime moroi considered punishable by death, and so the repercussions of this couldn't be that bad…

It was better to tell them I had broken Victor out of prison than to let them draw that information from me when I was powerless to resist. If they started on that topic while I was under the charm, they would probably find out that Lissa and Eddie had helped. And they would also discover that Adrian had known about it. My friends would be accessories. I could not let that kind of thing happen to them. They would have never done something so stupid without my direction, and I wasn't going to let them take the fall for my stupidity.

The judge didn't seem to have recovered, or perhaps hadn't been able to regain control of the crowd, because everybody was talking loudly over one another, whispering not-so-inconspicuously from behind their hands and staring at me. I sighed and searched through the throngs of near-hysteric royals to find Dimitri. He sat stock still next to my mother, and though his expression was hard and unreadable, I could see the pain in his eyes. I knew him well enough to recognize that it wasn't there because I had told the truth, although I'm sure he wasn't too happy at my decision, rather than because he felt guilty. I closed my eyes, hating the disappointment Dimitri was showing toward me, and opened them again to look at the crowd. I scanned their faces, taking in their visible anger and the hostility. There were certainly enough people here to form an angry mob, but I didn't think I was about to be chased with pitch forks. I hadn't noticed at first, but there were surprisingly some faces in the crowd that displayed nothing other than raw shock.

I was aware of the banging of the judge's gavel, and slowly the room fell to silence. I turned to face the judge, who looked like she'd just swallowed stones.

"Let us not forget the reason we are here today." She said loudly, her voice firm.

There was a small outburst from somewhere in the back, but the look the judge shot out made it clear that she expected silence and order. "Miss Hathaway has just confessed her misdeeds to _another _crime," She said, looking pointedly at Daniella. "One that we are not talking about today. Her confession will be dealt with accordingly at another time."

Daniella sprang up from her chair, outraged. "Your honor, she just admitted to breaking a fugitive out of a high security prison! We need to prosecute her _now_!"

The judge looked at her almost condescendingly. "I think, Mrs. Ivashkov, that there are enough witnesses present to the testimony that we can let the situation carry another day." I noticed that she had not used Daniella's royal title of Lady Ivashkov. That had been intentional. Daniella noticed too, and she gaped at the judge indignantly with her mouth open until the judge turned away from her. "Sir Drozdov, please proceed." She smiled kindly at the therapist, who looked shocked. He nodded fervently and plodded across the room, coming to a stop just before me.

"Miss Hathaway," He smiled at me, shooting a nervous glance at the judge from the corner of his eye. "Do you consent to the induction of hypnosis and compulsion to aid in the retrieval of information pertaining to the court case with which we are dealing?"

I swallowed. I hadn't killed the queen, and I knew that I should not worry about being placed under compulsion. I was sort of resistant to it anyways... "Yes."

"You're sure?"

"I'm sure." I nodded.

Sir Drozdov gave me a would-be reassuring smile and stepped closer to me, looking deeply into my eyes. It was a little awkward to look into the eyes of an old man, but he seemed to have learned how to hide his emotions. I've heard the eyes are the window to the soul, but if that was true, he must have put his storm shutters up in preparation for a hurricane. I searched his stare for some sign of life, but only the dark grey color looked back at me. I felt a sort of drowsiness falling over me, and then I realized the compulsion had taken effect.

"I will demonstrate now to you that she is indeed under compulsion." I heard Sir Drozdov say. His voice was sort of far away, like he was speaking from down the hall. "Stand up, Miss Hathaway." His voice was clear again as he gave me the order. I stood up automatically, the chair moving out from behind me. "Without even batting an eyelash." His voice was foggy again, but the undertone of it seemed to be proud.

"What does that prove? That they worked out a plan before the trial?" Daniella's voice sounded like it came from under the water. I wasn't angry with her for her suggestion, though.

"Oh, I assure you I've never spoken to Miss Hathaway at any time before now."

"And I'm supposed to take you on your word for it? Certainly not!"

"Yes, of course. Lady Ivashkov, would you like to ask your questions first while I hold her under compulsion?"

"Yes, I would actually." I watched Daniella walk up to join Sir Drozdov in front of me.

"Where were you, Rose, on the night of the queen's murder?" Daniella's voice was strong and loud and she was looking directly at me.

I opened my mouth to answer, but Sir Drozdov's mellow voice caught me off guard. "For the compulsion to work, you have to demand answers. You can not merely ask questions. For example, Miss Hathaway, tell me where you were on the night the queen was murdered."

"On June 26th I was in my room."

"For the whole night?" Daniella questioned. I faintly heard Sir Drozdov clear his throat, and then Daniella rephrased her question. "Tell me how long you were in your room."

"Almost all day. And all night. I went from church that morning to my room. Then I went for a walk around the grounds and returned to my room."

"Tell me what you did in your room for all those hours."

I didn't even have a second to hesitate or resist telling her the truth. It was as if a pull chord were attached to my back and when you tugged on it, the answers I would give were automatic. "I cried. And I slept some, and mostly I thought of the things that had been going on in my life recently."

I felt too foggy to gauge Daniella's reaction, but her voice sounded a little surprised when she spoke again. "Tell me what you were crying about."

"The man I loved told me he no longer loved me."

"And so you spent all day holed up in your room. And when the evening came…"

"My boyfriend Adrian Ivashkov came over to visit."

"He came over…"

"Around nine o' clock."

"You went to church that day. Tell me about that."

"I went to find a friend. We talked during mass. He told me that he no longer loved me. I went back to my room and cried and thought of the man I loved and my boyfriend."

"In church, did you repent for anything?"

"No."

"Tell me how it made you feel to hear that. Somebody you loved didn't love you anymore…"

"It hurt. I felt worthless and unhappy, like I had been ripped into two parts. At first I wasn't sure I would ever feel whole again. But then I realized I had somebody that could make me feel whole again. Then I remembered he was mad at me. I cried until I fell asleep. And then Adrian came over."

"Tell me who you went to see in church. Who is the man you love?"

"I went to see Dimitri Belikov. I knew him well enough to know he would be there."

I didn't notice anybody's reactions to my confession. I was too intent on Daniella. "The man who had recently returned from life as strigoi?"

"Yes."

"Did you have any contact with him while he was a strigoi?"

"Yes."

"Tell me what type of contact you had with him."

"I traveled to Russia to find him. He kidnapped me and tried to turn me. I thought I killed him, but he survived. He sent me a letter and the stake I had used to try and kill him. Then he cornered me in Vegas. I fought him off. I didn't talk to him after that until I went to save Lissa and try to kill him again."

"While he was a strigoi did he ever speak to you about killing the queen?"

"No."

"Tell me whether you killed the queen."

"I did not kill the queen."

"Explain to me how your stake was recovered at the crime scene with your fingerprints on it."

"I was set up. The stake that killed Tatiana Ivashkov is not my stake. There were two. My stake was only a decoy, with my fingerprints planted perfectly on it. They were not smudged or anything. The stake that really killed the queen had another set of fingerprints on it that belong to a man named Emilio Kurtwright."

I felt like I was drunk. More drunk than I had ever been. I could not get a grasp on everybody's reaction, and my attention was focused only on Daniella. When she reacted, it was in slow motion. Her face tightened just a little bit. I don't think anybody noticed but me.

"Your honor." The voice that spoke was distant and low, but I recognized it. I looked up slowly and then figured I must be hallucinating. Lissa stood at the front of the room, Adrian beside her. She looked just as beautiful as ever, but her cheeks were flushed and she looked tired. Slowly the haze I was feeling began to disappear, and when I looked at Sir Drozdov, he was no longer focusing on me. Everybody's attention had turned to Lissa. I hadn't heard them come in, but they must have just got there. "I am sorry to appear in court out of turn, but I have information that will put this case to an absolute end." She looked earnestly at the judge. Adrian looked like he would punch the judge if she didn't let Lissa speak.

I looked at Daniella, trying to see her reaction. With the fog around my brain gone I could clearly see the stress on her face. She was looking at Adrian longingly, but he seemed to be working very hard at ignoring her. "Princess Dragomir," The judge said respectfully, "if you feel you can make a case then you may present it."

"Thank you, your honor." Lissa smiled kindly and turned to me. "Rose, come off the stand. I want you over here for this."

I wasn't sure whether the compulsion had pushed me over some edge. Now this just felt like one big illusion. But my brain felt clear, and it all looked real. I moved down from the podium and went to stand between Lissa and Adrian. "How did you guys get here?" I mused, reaching an arm out to place on Lissa's shoulder. She wrapped me into a hug. Ok… She was definitely real.

"Private jet." Lissa said quietly. "A really fast private jet. Abe knows some really _really _important people."

"How are you going to end this?" I asked, still feeling like this was all too good to be true. I didn't want to trust that it was all going to be over and then have my hopes crushed again.

Lissa stepped out of my embrace and moved towards the benches in Dimitri's direction. But Dimitri was not the person that she was looking for. She reached across the rows toward Sydney. Though they had never met, they seemed to have something planned, or perhaps they just understood each other well enough. Sydney passed a folder to Lissa, who smiled excitedly when she peeked inside. I had been in her head only a few hours before and she had been the total opposite of what she was now. I hated to see her upset like she had been earlier, but this jubilance was kind of scaring me now too.

"Rose Hathaway was set up." She said triumphantly. "Does anybody know why?" Lissa turned to look at the people sitting on the benches. The high society moroi looked confused and out of place. They had come here expecting to witness my downfall, but this trial was far from what I had expected, and I had expected the worst. I couldn't imagine what they must be thinking. It was one interruption after the next, and while it was unorthodox, it seemed like it was at least effective. Everybody looked engaged, hanging on Lissa's words. She would definitely make a good queen. "The queen's real murderer thought she would be an easy target."

"But you were wrong, weren't you mom?"

There was silence in the room and it took me a moment to realize who had spoke. Adrian's voice was cold, and when I looked at him it was as though his stare could cut right through his mother. Daniella's face displayed an array of emotions: anger, denial, confusion…But one of the things she betrayed was only a fleeting dance across her face, a brief flash in her eyes: regret.

Unlike almost every other moment today, the court was absolutely silent. Lissa took the opportunity to plunge forward. "It was a sudden decision, but the murderers was desperate. The queen's murderers thought they could pin the blame on Rose. But the real murderers did too good a job of setting her up."

Lissa looked down at the folder in her hands. She held it up for everybody to see. "This was Iris Kane's folder on this trial. Ms. Kane was working for the prosecution. At first, she had a ton of evidence that proved Rose was guilty. And then she began to realize that her evidence was actually full of holes, despite the motive and the very obvious murder weapon. She couldn't make a case that would prove Rose was guilty of murder because she realized that Rose was not guilty at all. She also realized who was actually to blame for the treasonous act." Lissa looked pointedly at Daniella.

"The truth is a dangerous thing. Iris Kane was murdered last night because she discovered the truth. A man by the name of Emilio Kurtwright murdered the queen. He performed the cruel act, but he was not alone in his actions. It took four people to plan the murder. Once the queen was dead, they would share the spoils of her untimely death. But first they had to find a scapegoat. Since Rose was going to take the downfall, the murderers had to get a hold of her stake." Lissa took two short steps to the side of the room and grabbed a plastic bag from Sydney. In it, I recognized the stake, still caked in mud, that I had discovered last night. She held it up for all the room to see.

"On the night of the Death Watch, Damon Tarus broke into Rose's room and stole her stake. For those of you who do not know what the Death Watch is, it is an elite party for those of prestigious royal blood. Daniella Ivashkov anticipated that her son would invite Rose, so she left the list of passwords laying in plain sight. Since it is a masked ceremony, nobody but Daniella and Adrian would know Rose was there. One of Daniella's guardian's dressed up and attended the party as Damon Tarus. Nobody noticed he was missing, but when Anthony Badica recognized Rose, Queen Tatiana and Daniella rushed into the hall to reprimand her. The queen sent Rose back to her room, and then Daniella and the queen returned to the ceremony. However, as soon as the queen had left Daniella's sight, Lady Ivashkov escaped the room and fled for Rose's room so that she could warn Tarus. Fortunately for her, Rose did not return to her room and so they were able to successfully steel Rose's stake." There was an air of finality to Lissa's soft voice, but she was watching Daniella cruelly.

"Princess Dragomir, I think you have misunderstood. I would never-"

"Save it." Adrian demanded harshly. Daniella blanched visibly, stricken by the obvious anger.

"I've heard enough of this!" I recognized Nathan's voice from the front of the room. Everyone turned to see him standing, all sense of dignity forgotten as he clenched his fists and stared angrily at Lissa. The heads of each of the royal families were looking between Lissa and Nathan, as if expecting some kind of show down. "The Dragomir princess has clearly fallen ill. Her mind is afflicted! Let's not waste any more time in apprehending this criminal!" A stout finger was pointed at me as he screamed the word criminal. I glanced at Lissa, only to realize that Adrian had turned the color of a tomato. I could practically see steam coming from his ears as he advanced toward the table the royal court sat at.

There was a sudden scuffle and I noticed Dimitri had jumped up from his seat and rushed across the room. I didn't have time to wonder what the hell he was doing before he had practically tackled Adrian to the ground and dragged him back. Adrian fought him off, but he had nothing on a Russian God of war like Dimitri. Everybody watched them, entranced. At any other time I might have found that pretty sexy, but currently I couldn't think of anything other than the fact that Daniella had killed the queen. It was hard to believe. Part of me considered the option that spirit had finally pushed Lissa and Adrian to the limit, and now they were just a couple of insane peas in a pod spinning a story they had fabricated on the jet ride here.

"Your honor, this is preposterous!" Nathan was commanding control again, but the judge wasn't about to let him have it.

"I believe otherwise, Lord Ivashkov." She said dismissively, fixing Lissa with an almost hopeful stare. "I trust you can back up all of your claims?"

"Of course." Lissa handed the folder off to the judge, who flipped it open before her. She nodded at Lissa to resume her account.

"On the night of June 26th, just two days after the Death Watch, Daniella Ivashkov paid the queen a visit with her guardians, who gave the queen's guards a leave, promising to look after the queen. Two stood watch at the door. Emilio Kurtwright went into the room with Daniella. After a few minutes, Daniella left with two of her guardians in tow. But Guardian Kurtwright, who most of you know as Guardian Milo Karter, stayed behind. He killed the queen with his own stake, one he'd had fashioned in Russia during his residency, then removed it and replaced that with Rose's. It just so happened that the stakes were identical, both designed by an elite Russian silver smith."

I noticed Sydney stand up and step out of her row. Austin rushed forward and practically fell at Lissa's feet. He grinned so widely it made even my face hurt, and as he handed Lissa a second stake I began to see everything fall into place. "This stake in my left hand killed the queen. It belongs to Guardian Kurtwright. Analysis has proven that this stake, though not the one recovered at the scene of the crime, is the one that was plunged through Queen Tatiana's heart. The only set of fingerprints on this stake are Guardian Kurtwright's. The stake in my right hand is the one that was recovered at the crime scene. It belongs to Rosemarie Hathaway. While it was found in the queen's heart, it was not the instrument of death. Iris Kane had analysis done to show that there are inconsistencies between the depth of the wound and the depth of the blood markings on the stake belonging to Guardian Hathaway. However, Kurtwright's stake _is _a match. In addition, the blood patterns on each stake are inconsistent with the previous speculations. The time of death and the speculative age of the blood traces on each weapon were also not fitting."

"Still, they had hidden the real murder weapon, and they thought they had set Rose up perfectly to take the blame. But when Rose refused Damon's representation in court, it threw a hitch in their plan. The plan had been to incriminate her at the last minute during her trial by turning against her and working for the prosecution, leaving her without an attorney. Abe Mazur took the place of Guardian Hathaway's acting lawyer. Soon after the hearing, Damon began to get regretful. They could not risk Damon's confession, no matter how unlikely it might have been. Kurtwright and Daniella cornered Damon in his office and Daniella compelled Damon into killing Mia Rinaldi, who had the misfortune of being present at the time, so he could turn Strigoi. Damon couldn't resist. Daniella slipped out of the building immediately after, but Tarus got the better of Kurtwright. In his blood lust, he turned Kurtwright strigoi too. Kurtwright was then killed when he tried to attack Christian Ozera, who had been present in the building with Mia, but not a witness to the acts."

"The murderers still thought they had gotten away with it, until they came across another threat to their plan. Iris became involved when she took over all of Damon's unfinished cases. She found information that suggested a huge cover up was going on under her nose. She contacted Abe Mazur and told him what she suspected. She was then able to piece the information together to find out the truth. Her mistake was confronting Daniella. Last night while she was working in her office, the fourth participant in the murder, a man by the name of Strohm who watched the Guardians rooms, went to dispose of Iris. Iris put up a fight though; she knew it was coming and she hid this information. She took it to Damon's office and once again contacted Abe Mazur to disclose the location. She tried to fight off Guardian Strohm, but he overpowered her. She was decapitated." Lissa paused, though I think it was for dramatic effect, because she was apparently not done.

"The queen's murder was a conspiracy between Lady Daniella Ivashkov, Damon Tarus, Guardian Emilio Kurtwright, and Guardian Holden Strohm. Together the group is responsible for multiple murders. For Miss Daniella Ivashkov, I have three counts of conspiracy to commit. For the deceased Damon Tarus, I have one count of conspiracy to commit and two counts of murder for Mia Rinaldi and the turning of Guardian Kurtwright. For the deceased Guardian Kurtwright I have 3 counts of murder for Queen Tatiana Ivashkov, Damon Tarus, and Mia Rinaldi. And for Guardian Strohm, one count of conspiracy to commit and one count of murder for the death of Iris Kane. In addition, all of the aforementioned have committed a crime of treason, the punishment of which is death."

The room was still enough that you could have heard a pin drop. Everyone looked to the judge with wide eyes, not even daring to breathe. The judge looked up from the folder, and as her large, disbelieving eyes fell upon Daniella, she did not resemble a judge at all. She reminded me more of a shocked movie-goer who just found out her favorite character was actually the killer. "It's all true." She said, her voice just barely a whisper.

The room jumped into motion before me, everybody moving in an intense blur. I wasn't aware of what was going on, but I dragged Lissa back, gaining control over myself for the first time since I had been put under compulsion. Daniella had stood from her seat and was moving at speeds I hadn't thought her capable of. Nobody moved to stop her, as they were all paralyzed with shock. I was beyond the state of shock now…I was pissed. I chased after her, and though she was faster than I had imagined, she was no match for me. I lunged at her just before she could open the door and escape, tackling to the ground the mother of the man I love.

**a/n: OK, so the long awaited, much anticipated chapter forty six is here. I am so sorry it took SOOOO LONG! My access to a computer is limited, and when I get on I have to make sure I do my homework for all of my online classes, plus my speeches. I spend about 20 hours a week at work, and a TON on school stuff. When I have down time, I'm never near a computer, so I've been typing this chapter for a month. But I love the way it turned out. If you read too fast you will have missed the whole plot, but you can always go back and re-rtead it. I have spent forever planning this, but I typed it up super quick, so I hope everything makes sense to you guys! I love you all so much, nd I hate that I had to disappoint you. believe me, it was killing me too! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review and let me know what you think. I REALLY Love you guys and appreciate the five minutes you spend on a review, especially since I spent a month on this! Lol. Okay, I know everything is out in the air now, but fear not. There is more. There are a few problems yet to be resolved...who will she be with? what will happen to daniella? will lissa become queen? There's a lot to come and Rose's Strigoi senses will be tingling very soon. :) Let me know what you thought! much love, belleceline**


	47. Chapter 47

I was vaguely aware of the guardians that moved in a hurry to pull me away from Daniella. I was able to get in one good punch right to her left eye before they peeled me off of her, tugging at me with their combined force. I was hell-bent, but they were strong enough to separate me from her, and they dragged me back across the room. I struggled the whole way across, seething. I did not care that we were in the Royal Court. I did not care that this was a 'respected' royal. And I most definitely didn't care that this was Adrian's mom. My rage was blinding and all-consuming.

A second pair of guardians helped Daniella to her feet, looking unsure whether they should drag her up by her hair or help her up since, after all, she was a lady. I moved again in an effort to strangle her, and managed to shake off the guardians that had attempted to subdue me. They clearly had underestimated me if they thought I would honestly let her sit over there with just one shiner on her face. I wouldn't stop until Daniella was bleeding.

I managed to bound across the room and get a second punch to Daniella's jaw. The crack I heard did nothing to satisfy my desire to hurt her though, and I drew my fist back again. There were more hands grabbing me, trying to wrench me away, as the guardians watching Daniella seemed torn between letting me attack her and stopping the onslaught. They made up their mind to defend her a moment too late; I slipped between them, escaping the cumbersome hands of my captors and was at Daniella's throat in a single move. I saw fear ignite in her eyes just before she closed them against me, bracing for the impact. My fist collided with her nose, and then I felt myself being dragged away. I wanted to kick Daniella, just for one more hit, but that seemed brutish. I spun around, sliding under the arms of the other guardians, and with all my might, slapped Daniella across the face.

It was Dimitri who managed to get a firm hold of me and begin to carry me back across the room. I struggled against him, still angry but satisfied by the sting in my hand. If it had hurt me, then it must have really hurt her. The adrenaline coursing through my veins prevented me from focusing on the sting, though, and when Dimitri stopped moving and held me still I was able to assess the damage I had caused.

Her eye seemed to already be bruising, and the angry red spot on her jaw looked swollen and painful. I had accomplished my goal in making her bleed; the punch to her nose must have broken the cartilage, because red flowed all down the front of her clothing. But the mark that satisfied me most was the handprint across her face. Somehow that bitch-slap had been the single most empowering thing I had done in weeks. And it was properly fitting.

Daniella stood locked between the guardians, her arms drawn behind her back, rendering her helpless. Her hair fell into her face wildly; She was a far cry from the women I had once considered a friend.

The judge called the room to attention with some difficulty and a few slams of her gavel against her oak podium. I didn't care what the repercussions of this assault would be, or even of breaking Victor from jail. I had just had my innocence proven; I wasn't going to die. They could lock me up for years if they wanted, and I'd get by on the satisfaction of this moment.

"Mrs. Daniella Ivashkov, you are being held accountable for crimes of murder and treason in the first degree. How do you plead?"

"I'm not guilty!" Her voice was slightly hysterical. I had never imagined the well-composed Lady Ivashkov capable of such a feral tone of voice. "I didn't do this."

"Evidence proves otherwise." The judge said crisply. I could tell that she was ready for this day to be over already. "Of course, we will have to have a trial to formally present the evidence disclosed within. Until such a time when a date can be appointed, you will be held under watch in the jail. Guardian Strohm will also be found and held until the court has appointed a day for your trial." The judge looked at the guardian's holding Daniella between them, then glanced to the two who had been trying to pry me away from her. "The four of you will take Lady Ivashkov to her holding cell. I want a constant guard of four around her."

Daniella's face was an accurate display of her terror. "Wait, please! I didn't do this! I didn't kill anybody!"

Nobody answered her as the guardians closed in around her. She was led from the room, denying her crimes the whole way out. But her pleas fell on deaf ears. Everybody was wild with this new gossip, and the courtroom was chaos. I turned to the judge, who seemed to be in desperate need of an aspirin. I expected her to call the room to attention once more, but the act would be futile. There was no recovering from this. She stepped down from her stand, and I watched her surprised, wondering whether she was just going to slip out of the room unannounced. Instead, she came over to me.

"Miss Hathaway," She attempted a smile, but it came across as more of a grimace. "I hereby formally dismiss you of the crimes of murder and treason. We will talk another day about your earlier confession." She moved, ready to walk away, but I stopped her.

"There's one more thing. We haven't appointed a new monarch…"

"The royal court has been up to their neck with a murder trial." She said wearily, a half-hearted attempt at an excuse.

I nodded, understanding. "The queen's real will left the title of queen to Princess Dragomir." I was sure to lower my voice enough that nobody could have heard but the judge. Her eyes grew troubled.

"Princess Dragomir would make a fine lawyer." She said, casting a side-long glance at Lissa with a fond smile. "But the duty of queen is a heavy title. We can not change the rule of the quorum for one exception."

"You don't need to." I said, excited. "Lissa has a sister. And she is here at the court now. Jillian Dragomir, formerly known as Jillian Mastrano. Her father was Eric Dragomir, her mother a moroi named Emily Mastrano. Lissa has a right to her spot on council now. She will be the queen. Tatiana wanted it."

"The monarch does not appoint their successor," She said with a small frown. "A living will would not hold up in court as strong enough to appoint her the new queen."

"It would count as a vote at the least." I countered, looking at Lissa, wrapped in Christian's arms. It made me feel happy to see them reunited. It also reminded me of my convoluted love life.

The judge sighed, looking up at the chairs at the front of the room where the head of each family had been stationed. "I will call a private council tonight. I assume you can prove that Lissa really does have a sister?"

"Of course." I said quickly. The judge nodded curtly.

"I'll be in touch, Miss Hathaway." She assured me. I did not have time to answer before she had spun on her heel and practically fled the room. I couldn't say I blamed her. I was ready to do the same. My parents had other plans for me.

I hadn't ever considered myself close to my parents. My mother was dedicated to her job, and so she had left me in the hands of the Vampire Academy. My father had not even been a remote part of my life up until the last several months. But seeing them there made my heart swell with pride. I crossed to them, and before I could allow myself to over-think it, I wrapped them in my arms and hugged them both. I felt their resistance for only a moment before they warmed into the gesture.

"You did it." I told them, surprised. I hadn't had much faith in their mission in Russia. But they had gotten me off the hook. Adrian, Lissa, Eddie, and my parents. Iris Kane deserved some credit too, since she had called Abe to tell him the information in the first place, but they had worked together. I had done almost nothing for myself, but I was free. I had no concerns about my impending trial for my jailbreak. This moment was too glorious to be brought down by thoughts of the future.

My mother was smiling. That in itself was a rare feat, but when I was about to joke about that, I noticed the tears gleaming in her eyes. My mouth closed and I swallowed my shock, trying to think of something to say. I imagined she was crying because she was happy, but I couldn't be sure. I guess the look I gave her conveyed my thoughts because she laughed and pulled me tighter. "I thought I was going to lose you."

Her voice wavered just a little, but it still held all the form authority that she had been born with. Taken aback by her show of emotion, I did the thing that I did best. I made a joke.

"Come on, mom, you can't get rid of me that easy."

"Same as your mother," Abe mused, drawing my attention. My mother released me and I stepped back to look at him. "Just like a leech."

My mother smiled, as if that were some kind of private joke. Whatever it was, I definitely didn't know. I didn't like the way they were looking at each other, all starry-eyed and dopey. Luckily, I was spared from having to respond to their sickening display when Lissa came over with Christian in tow. I spared my parents a half-hearted apologetic look and attempted to turn away. But before I had completely spun away from them, I stopped myself and looked at them a tad awkwardly. The way they were looking at me made me feel like I had just done something great, rather than gotten off the hook for a crime I didn't commit. As crazy as they made me, and negligent though they were, they were pretty great. "I Love you." I told them, looking between them both quickly, trying to avoid their eyes. My mother looked like a kid on Christmas. She draped an arm around Abe's waist and looked at me through those dewy eyes.

"I love you too, Rose."

I smiled. At least she hadn't called me Rosie or anything. Abe looked at me coolly, trying to retain his too cool to care attitude. "Ditto." He said.

Sissified by the balance they had managed to attain, I turned again to face Lissa. Abe's voice stopped me. "Rose…" He sounded hesitant, so I only glanced at him to ease his nerves. "I love you too. And for what it's worth, you're my favorite daughter."

I blinked, wondering what he meant by that. I wouldn't be surprised if he did have other children, but I think it was supposed to be his attempt at saying he was proud of me. "Thanks, dad." I laughed and grabbed Lissa's wrist, leading her away from my parents before they could embarrass themselves further. When I stopped moving, Lissa moved into my arms and hugged me again, squeezing me so tightly I wondered whether she was trying to smother me.

"I missed you so much." She said, letting go of me so that she could step back.

"I missed you too, Liss. We have a lot to catch up on."

"Yeah." Lissa laughed, echoing my thoughts. Christian stepped forward, grabbing my attention. He extended his hand somewhat inelegantly. I took it, prepared to accept a handshake. But then I threw caution to the wind. Since I was already being mushy, I might as well…I hugged him, very quickly, and he stepped away, looking as though I had violated him. Then, slowly, the mask broke and he smiled. "I'm glad you're free. Things wouldn't have been the same without your constant nagging."

I recognized that as the best compliment I could have perceived from Christian Ozera, so I took it. "Thanks." The tentative air of my voice was obvious, but Christian had been here for me throughout all of this ordeal. Lissa was like my sister, and Christian had become something like a brother to me. My family was growing. And that reminded me…"There's someone I want you to meet." I told Lissa, looking around through the crowd. I found Jill, not surprisingly with Jesse. I had thought their romance was kind of cute at first, but now I was worried. They had spent an awful lot of time together lately. I apologized to Jesse as I dragged Jill away and brought her to Lissa. "Liss, this is Jill."

Lissa looked at me, worried. She must have feared that the shadow kissed connections had pushed my mind into the darkness of insanity. "I know Jill." She smiled at Jill, almost apologetically, and then fixed her concerned gaze on me again.

"This is Jill Dragomir."

Lissa looked at me hesitantly, back to Jill, and then to Christian. "What are you talking about?"

"I know this is going to be hard to understand," Christian began, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. Lissa looked at me, her eyes slightly wild.

"Your dad had an affair. Jill is your half sister." If I had learned anything recently, it was that keeping secrets and tip-toeing around the truth was not helpful at all. "Oh, and by the way…" I glanced at Christian, wondering if he would try to stop my next words. He must not have known what I was going to say though, because he didn't so much as bat an eyelash. "You're going to be queen." I looked over my shoulder and saw the person I had been looking for. "I'm sorry, Liss. We'll catch up later. I have to go find Dimitri." I hugged her once again. The thought crossed my mind that in the past ten minutes I had hugged more people then I had ever probably hugged in the entirety of my life.

Dimitri was engrossed in conversation with a woman whose back was to me. He did not see me coming because he was intent on the conversation, but when I stepped up next to him I was the one that was in for a shock. Viktoria smiled at me jubilantly, and I barely had time to register her presence before she had swaddled me in her arms. I was pretty sure that at the rate I was going, my arms were going to fall off from the circulation being cut off by everybody's bone-crushing hugs. But still, I was excited to see Viktoria again. "What…?" I stammered ineloquently, pulling back to be sure that it was indeed Viktoria who was trying to squeeze the life out of me.

"We all came when we found out, Rose. We couldn't let you go through this without us." Viktoria looked exactly as I remembered her, although I suppose it was kind of cheating since I had seen her through Lissa's eyes just a few days ago.

"We?" I repeated, too startled to manage anything else.

"Of course. Yeva saw this coming. That's how we all got here in time. Of course, we probably wouldn't have believed her if it hadn't been for the call that we got from Kane."

"Iris." I clarified, still feeling like I was a few steps behind. And then I realized what she had meant when she said 'we'.

The Belikov family stood out among the frazzled moroi, the dark hair and olive skin an enviable beauty among the slender, pale moroi. Sonya stood with Karolina, the baby in her arms. Olena stood just slightly behind them, apprehensive. As they came to me, I was lost in a sea of hugs. I wasn't paying attention to who was hugging who. I could hear crying, and I half wondered if it was mine. Olena had been like a mother to me during my stay in Russia; Seeing her again was as wonderful as seeing my own family had been. I realized, however, it was Karolina, crying (or rather, sobbing) as she looked at Dimitri. She had struck me as the strong one, and so it came as a surprise to see that the tears were from her. It was twice as surprising when I realized that Sonya and Viktoria were crying now too. The only one that wasn't yet crying was Olena, and she looked like she would start at any minute now.

"Please, Rose… will you… hold the… baby?" Sonya asked between sobs.

I looked at the baby hesitantly, not wanting to hold it. I had never held a baby before, and I didn't even consider myself good with kids. But Sonya looked like she was about to pass out and I didn't want my namesake to develop brain damage if her mother passed out from relief, so I reluctantly agreed. I had half intended to pass little Rose off to Lissa, but when she was in my arms she woke up from her nap. There was a brief moment where I wondered how the hell she could have slept through this chaos, and then my wonder turned to panic as I figured that she would cry now. But instead she only looked at me in wonder, her little brown eyes sparkling with amusement.

She was really cute, I realized. And I took it as a personal compliment that she didn't cry when she looked at me. That made one Belikov woman. I thought for a moment that Lissa was tapping into my thoughts as I felt a sort of warmth take hold of me. Surely she was watching me and thinking of how she wanted kids. I certainly didn't. But when my eyes fell on Lissa she was engaged in a conversation with Jill, the two of them totally absorbed by one another. I looked down at the baby and managed a smile. Rose laughed. I didn't know babies could laugh, but it was contagious. The sound made me laugh too. Until the baby's eyes widened just a little; her face crumpled. I panicked, scared she had somehow gotten hurt, and held her closer, trying to figure out the source of her sudden upset. And as the nausea rolled over me, I realized Rose was like me in more ways then one. My knees buckled and I whispered frantically for Sonya, who turned in a hurry and scooped the baby back into her arms.

My heart was beating frantically, and the room began to feel like it was spinning. Slowly I felt myself dropping to the ground. As people turned to look my way, I fought to gather the words that were on my tongue. It was Dimitri who stopped me from falling. He led me gently to a bench, and as his concerned face peered at me, I had a revelation. Unfortunately, that would have to wait. I pushed all thoughts from my mind, except for the pressing issue at hand.

"There's strigoi…" I gasped. "In the court."

**a/n: ok, there is 47. i love you guys so much. please keep reviewing, i feel like i need them to survive now. :) I would say maybe three chapters left unless i decide to change the plot again :) it will definitely be done by december 7th, but i'm having a kind of hard time wrapping it up. it's hard to see it end. lol. sorry it took a little over a week to get it out, my best friend's birthday was this weekend and then my boyfriend's sister got married. and of course, the world keeps turning throughout everything, so i've been doing lots of homework. but school is almost out for me! and you know what else is almost out? the real last sacrifice! less than a month away now. who's excited? review and let me know. :)**


	48. Chapter 48

I'd never felt like this before. The day I'd first noticed the horrific side effects of being shadow kissed, I had been plagued by terrible headaches. I had long since grown accustomed to the nausea and the headaches between the ghosts I'd been seeing lately and the strigoi I'd had to fight. But this was a whole new level of crippling… There were strigoi close. Many of them. And yet, when I looked around at the faces of the people about me, nobody seemed to notice what I'd said. Dimitri watched me hesitantly, as if he almost didn't believe me. I found the strength within me to push everyone into action.

"There's a bunch of them!" I warned, jumping up. Before anybody could stop me or slow me down with incessant questions, I had raced across the room to where my stake lay on the table along with the evidence of my trial. I was out the door before anybody had a chance to catch up with me, my long hair whipping over my shoulder as I rounded the corner. When I had made it outside into the light from the full moon, the sense of nausea became stronger. I wasn't aware of anybody following me until I had made it to the tallest peak that the court's grounds had to offer, looking down at the gates. The gates were open wide, the path crested with figures. From my vantage point they looked like ants, small and insignificant, but I knew better.

An army of strigoi had stormed the court. I wasn't sure how they had gotten past the wards, but I knew enough to tell that they were unconcerned with stealthy actions. They did not run for the court, nor did they charge at us. They simply walked along, not at all worried for their sake. They had the element of surprise. And they had strength in their numbers.

The nausea and headache disappeared entirely; My mind cleared enough to remember to run and get others. We had to build up a defense.

Dimitri had followed me, and now that he could see what I saw, he was ready to fight. I turned back in the direction of the court, finding the room to be in a state of upset. I looked around for somebody to alert. But who? We had no queen. The judge had left. My eyes fell upon the one person I wanted most in battle at my side. Janine Hathaway may not have known the gravity of the impending crisis, but she was already in action, ushering Moroi into the far corner of the room.

"Mom," I shouted across the chamber, pushing my way through confused and frenzied people. "There's an army of them! We have to alert the rest of the court!"

"I'll take care of it, Rose." She assured me quickly, shepherding Guardians to stay with the group of Moroi in the corner.

I had expected nothing less from her; I turned and looked through the faces til I found the one I was looking for. Lissa. "Liss, you have to warn everybody. Get up to the castle and alert the guardians. Stay inside!"

I didn't give her any opportunity for response. I ran back out of the courtroom, pushing my way through hordes of people to make my escape. Dimitri found me again. I turned to look at him, panic-stricken. "We have to attack. We have to hold them off!"

"We are not going to attack." He said firmly, looking back down the hill. "It's suicide."

"We're good enough." I protested. "We could fight them." My voice was unconvincing even to myself. I was pretty crazy, but I was still smart enough to realize there was no way in hell that the two of us could take on that entire army, no matter how good we were.

"We'll be on the defensive. If we can get all the moroi into the castle then we can stand guard outside and fight them off when they come."

"We can't do that!" I said loudly. "By the time we get everyone out of the court and into the castle, the strigoi will descend on them. We need to cut them off."

"Rose!" Dimitri yelled, taking me by surprise. He didn't yell often. "We are more help to the moroi if we protect them instead of sacrificing ourselves. We can't do it alone." I opened my mouth to speak, but somebody else cut me off.

"You're not alone."

I looked up to see who had spoke. Eddie. I felt the slightest relief beginning to ebb through me as I looked around at the faces of those who he'd brought with him. With all the things I had been feeling in the past ten minutes alone, I had forgotten to look for him among the crew who had returned from Russia. Now that I saw him, however, I was beyond grateful. A group of people had collected behind him, looking fierce and grim with determination. They seemed to be awaiting some kind of marching orders, and as I looked Eddie in the eyes, I realized he was too.

"We want to help." Someone piped up. I looked through the sea of faces for the source of the voice, and found it. The girl who had spoke was young, probably fresh out of the academy like myself, and yet she didn't look familiar to me.

"The best you can do to help is to take the moroi into the castle." Dimitri said sternly, looking out at the determined people with a set jaw.

"Bullshit." I said, almost casually, scanning the mass. There were a good twenty people standing around, just waiting for something to do. "We can take them."

"Rose-"

"Save it, Dimitri." I said fiercely. I could feel that we were running out of time and yet everything was going so slow. I couldn't make myself think faster, move faster.

"We are all guardians." Eddie said, using his hands to gesture at the people around him. "And we have all graduated. This is our job."

"Your job is to protect moroi!" Dimitri said loudly. I remembered seeing him really angry once, when he had caught me making out with Jesse in a spare room at the academy. He had said I gave our race a bad name, that he expected more from me. He had practically scared _me_ then, but the fury that was building up under his thick skin was going to make that look like a congratulatory pat on the back.

"You're not in charge, Dimitri." I said lightly. I was not going to sugar coat things for his benefit. I simply couldn't afford to do that. I turned to look at the expectant faces. "Does everyone have a stake?" There was a chorus of 'yes ma'am' and I briefly wondered when the hell that had happened. When had I gone from Rose, from Hathaway, to ma'am? But I didn't have time to consider it. "We'll go down by the gardens." I said decisively. "It gives us close range to the moroi so we can keep an eye on them while still maintaining the offensive. If we drop down on them, we should at least get in several kills before…" I didn't finish my sentence. Before what? Before our defense fell, wiped out by the sheer number of strigoi? Before the strigoi seized the inner court? Before the moroi were obliterated, either turned or killed?

Eddie turned to the small assembly behind him. "You heard her. We'll go to the gardens and surprise them there." He jerked his head in the direction he wanted, and like an army following orders from their drill sergeant, they headed off. Except they did not march. They sprinted across the grounds, quickly and quietly. I turned to Dimitri, who was watching them go with a mix of anger and confusion displaying on his handsome face.

"I'm going with them." I announced, gauging his reaction. Dimitri turned to me slowly, looking me square in the eye.

"This is suicide." He told me quietly. "We're going to get them killed."

I swallowed, attempting to disengage the lump that had found it's way into my throat. "I'm going with them." I repeated, not allowing myself to think of anything else. Not his eyes or the way they looked into my soul, saw the fear there. Not his lips or the way they quivered just the tiniest bit, like they didn't know whether they should kiss me or fight with me. Not even his body, which mine ached to curl up next to. Looking at him I only saw the fear that I was feeling, his and a reflection of my own living in harmony in his cool stare.

An understanding seemed to pass between us, and Dimitri let go of the anger that had been coiling within him. I saw it slip from his face, the muscles flattening out, going smooth. "I'm going wherever you're going." He said, his tone resigned.

The moment passed between us and I let it go, tuning myself into the battle that was imminent. Words were not a necessary medium between the two of us; We jogged off toward the garden together, knowing what we had to do.

The gardens were on a more level plane of Earth, but the vantage allowed us a peek at the area before the gates. From our location on the grounds, the marching strigoi were clearly visible. And though they were not close enough to hear us, they were close enough for me to realize that they were actually not _all_ strigoi.

The onslaught appeared to be divvied up into small clusters of people. From what I could tell by the form they kept as they marched, there were three strigoi for every human. So that was how they had gotten past the wards... I wondered briefly what kind of humans would be willing to team up with strigoi, but then thought of the girl from Russia who had been dating Nathan. The appeal of eternal life called to them, whispering and enticing them with fallacies of every kind. The humans did not know what they had just gotten themselves into; They couldn't.

"There's humans with them," I relayed the information to Dimitri while looking down from my perch atop the garden wall. I had climbed the heavy stone to get a good look at the approaching threat. I tried to count the bodies that moved toward us, but the effort was fruitless. I lost track at forty four.

"Come down from there, Rose." Dimitri said, offering me a hand. "They'll see you if you don't move quickly enough."

I took his hand and propelled myself off the stone wall, landing in a crouch on the soft Earth. "Assume your positions." I announced, taking my own spot behind a large oak tree. Eddie had climbed into the branches of the very same tree, hopping from limb to limb like a monkey. He was several feet off the ground in a sturdy branch. The leaves, green with summer's dry warmth, expertly concealed his location. Dimitri stood on the other side of the wall; He would be the first to attack. It was his signal that we would wait for. There was a nausea in the pit of my stomach that was unrelated to the approaching strigoi. I turned around, catching a glimpse of one of the guardians from behind her hiding spot in a large flower bush. I motioned her back, and taking the hint, she moved further in until her body seemed to be swallowed whole by the hydrangeas.

"They're a football field away." Dimitri said, trying to assist the others with an accurate visual.

"A hundred yards." I muttered to myself. I wanted to glance around the thick trunk of the tree, but I knew moving even the slightest bit would blow our cover. It was not a risk worth taking.

"The humans…" Eddie murmured.

"A stake through the heart will kill them too." I said dryly.

"Eighty yards." Dimitri announced.

"The humans are wearing garlic." Eddie said weakly. I laughed loudly, unable to hold it back. Dimitri shot me a concerned yet dark look and I bit my tongue, thinking of how absurd that was. Garlic, of all things? "And they have little water pots." Eddie added, peeking between the branches as if they were blinds in a kitchen window.

"How original." I said, amused in spite of myself. "Holy water, no doubt."

"Don't you see what that means?" Eddie hissed.

"Sixty yards." Dimitri announced, his voice lower.

"What? None of that folk-y junk is going to hold up against us." I said, unable to keep my voice from sounding condescending. Eddie had also been pretty much raised by the academy. He knew that those crutches were rumors to give the humans a false sense of security. As if they really stood a chance against vampires.

"It means that the strigoi gave them false hope. They lied." Eddie's tone dropped lower as Dimitri's low voice perforated our conversation, announcing that they had fifty yards left to cover. "The humans are not their allies; They are a pawn. Go after the strigoi; Ignore the humans until last."

I licked my lips, realizing what he meant. The strigoi had roused up humans not just to break the wards. One human would have been sufficient for that. Instead, they had collected several of them to distract us. I looked back behind me, and though I could not see anybody, I announced in a loud, clear voice. "Leave the humans for last."

"Forty yards." I barely heard Dimitri over my own heart beat. I could attack, run, jump, and fight. But I could not wait. The suspense was building and churning in my veins, making it hard for me to await the signal. I ignored everything, focusing only on the sound of breathing, of footsteps.

Dimitri made no further announcements, which I took to mean that the militia must be within audible distance now. I considered briefly pressing myself into the tree, disappearing. The fire that burned within me was growing. If the strigoi didn't approach soon, I would leave my cover and attack on my own.

"They're splitting into groups." Eddie whispered. So their arrangement hadn't been for naught… I didn't get a chance to contemplate the meaning of that because a deep, primal scream ripped through the air, rending the sky and Earth. I jumped into action, recognizing Dimitri's signal, and flung out from behind my tree, sprinting to the closest strigoi, who was too taken by surprise to have any chance of survival. I got a nice, clean hit to his chest and he crumpled, withering to the ground.

Our group had all moved from their hiding spots by the time he fell; I watched as Eddie fought off a tall, ancient-looking strigoi. Dimitri was immersed in battle with a decrepit old man. The rest of the group ran forward, spurred on by my signal to go ahead. The strigoi that Eddie was pursuing was fully engaged, focused only on the battle at hand. I knew I should run on, kill more strigoi. Eddie and Dimitri were capable…But this was a group effort. The stake felt heavy in my hand as I crept behind the strigoi. Even Eddie didn't notice me coming, he was so enthralled. When I struck my stake through his back, driving it between the rib cage, it came as a surprise to both Eddie and the strigoi. To be careful, Eddie plunged into him, diving the tip of his stake into the man's heart. When he crumpled to the floor, I ran to Dimitri's aid.

Eddie looked at me hesitantly, clearly wanting to stay and make sure that we were okay, but I waved him forward. He moved on without a second thought. The old strigoi fighting Dimitri may have been crooked and stooped, but he had the advantage of experience. He noticed my presence and lunged out of my way, jumping toward Dimitri. He missed the stake by a few feet, and Dimitri moved again, striking out for his chest. The strigoi leapt back, emitting an awful cackle that crept up my spine like a spider. The sound was that of a deranged man. As I moved for him again, the strigoi skipped forward, missing Dimitri's stake only by a few inches. I moved, the strigoi moved, and Dimitri moved. For a moment we were caught in some ridiculous dance, the strigoi giggling like a school girl, until Dimitri moved in the opposite direction at the same time as me, swiping out at the old man's white flesh. There was only a second for him to contemplate the pain; His mouth had barely formed to make a scream before Dimitri plunged the stake deep into his chest. "Go!" Dimitri yelled, waving me on as I had the others.

I turned, seeking out more strigoi, but was caught off guard by a sudden torrent of water to my face. Looking up, I saw a thin woman probably in her middle ages, smiling at me with crooked and yellowing teeth. I looked at her, thinking of Eddie's words. _ The humans are a pawn_. I skittered to her and pushed my clenched fist into the side of her face, hoping that would be enough to keep her down until we could come back for her.

Dimitri had disposed of his strigoi and grabbed my arm, pulling me toward the court we'd come from only minutes before. A figure in the corner of my vision caught my eye and I tore my arm from his. I took two steps toward the figure, whose back was to me, looking at the long blond hair. As I moved closer, I noticed that there was a second strigoi in the corner, chatting almost nonchalantly with the first. Noticing my existence, they turned. As their eyes widened with a sort of sick joy, I cringed away. I wasn't sure who was more surprised by the meeting. Me, Avery, or Alberta.

Dimitri saw me watching them, but did not look at who was there. He grabbed me again and half-dragged me in the opposite direction. "You're the one who wanted to attack!" He said. "So go attack!"

Dimitri had never met Avery. The fact that she was now a strigoi was of little consequence to him. I recalled Katia apologizing that Lissa's friend had been turned. I had thought they were confused, but they had meant Avery. However, she was crazy. I did not perceive her to be much of a threat, as she had had her mind fried when she attempted to connect herself to Lissa. She had deserved that, but this…?

The real threat was Alberta. My mentor in school, Alberta was one of the best and most formidable guardians in her line of work. She never made a bad move, never took a wrong step. As a Guardian she had been damn near unstoppable. Now, as a strigoi…?

"That was Alberta!" I said, not slowing to explain myself to Dimitri. "Alberta's been changed!"

Dimitri's face looked momentarily confused, as if he could not remember who Alberta was. She had been his boss when he had worked for the Academy only a little over a year ago, but even to me that seemed like decades ago. "She'll be a threat, then." Dimitri said, his voice hard, his face regretful, like he wanted to turn back.

_I _wanted to turn back, to have it out with Avery one last time. She had hurt Lissa and Adrian. I hadn't been able to do anything at the time, but now she was parading herself in front of me. I could not afford to turn back, however, because the property before us was littered with strigoi and dhampir in mid-battle. Still a good distance away, I scanned the group of people, looking for faces I recognized. I was thinking of Eddie and his merry band of strigoi hunters, so it was a surprise when my eyes latched onto Ambrose just as he ducked a blow from a strigoi. He was graceful and nimble in nature, but he had given up guardian training. I wanted to help him, to be of assistance, but there were strigoi moving toward the court with wild abandon.

I surged for the group advancing on the court where hours earlier I had thought I was doomed. Now I wasn't feeling much of anything, or thinking much of anything. I felt like an animal, rabid and hungry. Something deep and primeval curled within me as I ran, faster than I ever had from any strigoi, faster than I had run from Dimitri when he said his love had faded, and faster even then I had run to save Lissa and Christian. I struck the first of the strigoi while still running; I held my stake out at arms length, an extension of my hand, and drove it right through his back. I didn't even hear his scream as he fell to the concrete sidewalk beneath him.

Hearing his scream, a second strigoi turned back, not to help the first or avenge him, but to see the source of his anguish. His red-ringed eyes locking onto mine, I saw his internal struggle for just a moment. The orders were to take the court; _that_ was his priority. But if he left me without putting up a fight, I would kill him. I stopped running, coming to a standstill as he seemed to contemplate his decision further. Making up his mind, he plunged onward. The strigoi next to him, however, did not. She turned to look at me, her lips curling into a wicked sneer. She did not move toward me, but waited for me to approach her.

I advanced on her, my stake ready. She did not move til I was perilously close. When I made my move, she lunged forward on a slant, avoiding my stake but still managing to swipe me across the face with her nails. I didn't feel the pain as I danced out of her way, thinking of my next attempt. I did not need to think on it for long that time, because the strigoi jumped out at me first, aiming for my neck. She could just snap it like a twig if only she could manage to get both hands around it. That thought in mind, I hunched over just a little bit and pushed myself into her, so that my head collided with her chest. It was not that I had expected much from that action, but as she stopped to laugh at the ludicrous moment, I took my shot, slamming the stake right into the spot where a heart had once beat. The smile hadn't totally slipped off her face when she fell.

One of the strigoi had made it to the doors of the court and was ramming it with the force of her weight. Another made it to her and joined the effort. Confronting the two of them was certainly a suicidal action, but I couldn't let them get in. If I killed just one of them, I would be okay. I would die a pretty alright death. Refusing to let my mind turn over with those dark thoughts, I dove forward, taking aim at the first of the strigoi. She turned around, seeing me, and flew into action. I did not look at her face; A strigoi was nothing more than a strigoi now. They all had to be eliminated or forced to retreat.

The strigoi made her move. Judging by the speed and garce she had accrued, I could tell she was not one of the newly made. She confirmed that thought when she skittered across the distance between us so quickly that I barely saw it. When she came into focus again, my heart skipped a beat. I looked into the face of Ms. Karp, who had been my teacher back at the academy. She was a moroi before she turned and she had struggled with spirit. The allure of using it had tempted her too often and driven her into the darkest corners of her mind. As the rational part of her brain receeded she had made the decision to join the ranks of strigoi. When she reached for me, I had a second of clarity to remind myself to move. However, I hadn't made it out of her grip in time.

Her hands wrapped around my neck, and I could feel them closing tighter and tighter. I had a flash of realization, figuring out now what was going on. Ms. Karp had been a spirit user when she turned. Avery had also been a spirit user when she had turned, even if she hadn't been capable of most functions. I thought briefly about when Lissa and I had broken Victor from Tarasov. Lissa had felt the presence of spirit users in the mental facility of the ward. Suddenly it all made sense to me. The spirit users who had been locked up in there were some of the very same strigoi that were on the field today. In fact, I was willing to wager my life (which I already was) that those patients made up a hefty percentage of the stigoi here now. My mind flashed through the people I had taken out. All of them had seemed off-kilter to me. They had been mental patients. The human who doused me with holy water, and the man who had laughed at his little dance with us. The gnarled lady who had smiled even as I killed her. Avery. The strigoi were targeting spirit users and the mentally ill who had been locked up in Tarasov. Somebody along the way must have known that the strigoi would try to attack that specific group; It hadn't made sense to me at the time that mentally insane people had been held under lock and key in a high security prison. Now I knew it was because they were walking targets. But why?

Ms. Karp's hands were tight enough now that I could not take in any oxygen. I wondered why she didn't just twist my neck right off, as morbid a thought that was. She must have enjoyed seeing me suffer. Suddenly, she released her hands and elbowed me to the face before I had a chance to move. Her strength was such that I fell to my knees on the ground. She stood over me, and I awaited the imminent. But she did not reach for my neck again; as her hand raised, she snaked it behind my head and grabbed onto my ponytail, forcing me further to the ground. I made a desperate attempt at staking her, but she moved away without so much as a second of hesitance. She wrapped my hair around her fist, getting a good grip, and began to walk away, dragging me with her.

The pain was sharp and violent, like needles driving right through my skull from the inside out. This was why guardians cut their hair short. But I hadn't wanted to do that, and I had never faced the consequences of that action up until now. I did not know where Ms. Karp planned to go. Was I to be her trophy? Was I to be a captive? I couldn't focus on that though, because the pain that rooted itself in my head was distracting. Surely I would be scalped before she could take me far.

Without warning, Ms. Karp's hand released my fistful of hair. My head slammed against the pavement. Stars shot out before my eyes, but I fought to look through them, rocking onto my feet as quickly as I could. Ms. Karp was distracted by a dhampir, who was dancing around before her, moving in and out, trying to confuse her properly. I didn't see who it was, but I made my move, blinded by the rage that turned my vision red. I struck out at her when her back was to me. A most unelegant display, I missed her heart but managed to push it deep into her back. She threw her hands up, attemting to diffuse the pain, a deep scream unfurling from within her throat. The scream died on her lips as the guardian pushed his stake into her body in a deft move.

I watched her fall to the ground, just to be certain that she would stay there, and looked up to see my saviour. Mikhail's face was dark and clouded as he looked down at the woman he'd just killed, and my heart broke for him. Though I could not afford the moment of emotion, I felt a desperate sorrow for him as I recalled when I had staked Dimitri. "Mikhail..." I breathed, feeling the need to say something. Mikhail looked up at me, his face suddenly empty. Then his eyes were burning with something different.

"Rose!" I heard my name just before I felt the punch to my right ear. I ducked down, seeing a strigoi sweep past me. There was a guardian hot on his heels, and Mikhail turned to join the pursuit. I looked around me, still feeling a bit stunned from lack of oxygen and a blow to the temple, but desperate for action. I heard a scream that sent chills up my spine, crawling up my skin until I shuddered. It was not the sound of a strigoi.

I ran to Mikhail, falling to my knees at his side after glancing around to be sure that there were no strigoi attempting to attack. The one who had slain Mikhail was distracted by the guardian who had been chasing him. I expected some sign of life from him, anything really, but he was absolutely gone. My heart throbbed and a sob began to form in my throat, but I choked it back, looking over at Ms. Karp. He had killed her, the woman he loved. That would have been a heavy cross to bear, not the kind of thing that you could trudge through life with. Somehow, this seemed fitting and proper. I did not let grief swallow me up in the moment, but stood and went to join the guardian fighting Mikhail's killer. I got him in the neck in one deft move, giving the other guardian an opening. He moved with great dexterity, sliding the stake almost effortlessly between the strigoi's ribs. I looked up at Ambrose, unable to hide my surprise. "Nicely done." I managed.

He graced me with a grim smile that held none of the beauty I was accustomed to from him. "Just because I choose not to fight doesn't mean I'm inept."

"Clearly." I looked around me. "Where did everyone go?"

"The strigoi are targeting the main doors now." Ambrose said quickly, flipping the stake in his hand absently. I wondered how often he had killed...the fact that he was hear led me to believe he had killed off the one who he'd fought earlier, but before today he probably hadn't had much experience.

A streak of motion caught my attention, throwing me off my guard. I spun, my eyes falling on a young girl, probably only thirteen. The red around her eyes was disconcorting, and it made me feel weak and dizzy. She was so young...I couldn't kill her. I looked at Ambrose out of the corner of my eye, knowing he did not have it within him to do it either. "Are you Rose Hathaway?" She asked, drawing both of our attention. She spoke with all the child-like innocnece and curiousity you would expect from a girl her age. I could not bring myself to answer her. Ambrose took the smallest of steps, and the girl took his movement as an attack. She reacted in her defense, leaping into the air. She almost made it look beautfiul as her hands closed around his neck. I tried to stop her, but there wasn't enough time. She pushed his forehead with all the force she could manage, snapping his neck back and discarding him to the ground.

I looked at his broken body through teary eyes for just a moment, before closing my eyes and taking my opportunity. I felt the force rip through her and double back toward me. When I opened my eyes, the only thing keeping her upright was my stake. The rest of her body bent like an old rag doll, limp and tired. I willed myself not to throw up as I pulled my stake back from her. Unable to face the thought or image of what I'd just done, I sprinted off in the direction of the main doors, where Ambrose had said the battle was.

I took the short cut, wrapping myself around the grounds, kicking up clods of dirt in my haste. I couldn't bring myself to look at the bodies on the ground for fear that I would see somebody I knew, somebody I loved. I ran on, up the stone steps that carved into the Earth, leading up to the marbled pavilion that the court used for entertaining. I reached the top and as I looked down in the direction I was headed, I could see the field crested with people. They moved, swirls of action, dancing, jolting, jerking, and leaping into the air. The battle was almost beautiful...

I brought myself back to reality, realizing the thought that had just shot through my mind. I was approaching certain darkness, the way these morbid thoughts kept floating through me. The battle was not beautiful. I forced myself to think of Mikhail and Ambrose laying outside the court without any breath in their chest, of their mangled bodies. Of the young girl whose life I had taken. War was not beautiful, even in spite of the grace those bodies below exhibited. Spurred on by thoughts of all those who had already fallen, I moved to go down the steps. My reverie had distracted me, rendering me near deaf. I hadn't heard the approaching strigoi, and I would not have even been aware of her presence unless she hadn't attacked me, sweeping across the pavilion to strike out against me.

I noticed her presence too late. Avery was on my back, her long hair whipping out behind her, her breath on my neck. She knocked me down with the force of her jump, springing at me like a coil, and jerked my ponytail out of the way, exposing my neck. She had me pinned perfectly. I thought of all the ways I could die now...a punch to the temple, a stone ground into my face, a twist of the neck, two hands squeezing the life out of me like I was nothing more than a flea. I was so consumed with ideas of what could be, I did not realize what actually was until it was happening. Avery's mouth was on my neck; I had nowhere to go. Her fangs found the hollow there, beneath which throbbed my pulse. Her teeth sunk into my skin, puncturing the veins there until blood began to seep through, trickling down my neck in a single instant. My brain told me I must push her off, I must throw her, disengage her teeth from my skin. But my body did not seem to be taking orders from my brain anymore. It was rebelling of it's own accord, the endorphins pushing it to revolt. A breath escaped me and the tension in my body disappeared. I relented, giving myself over to the haze of the drugs.

* * *

**A/N: I'm not even going to ask for your forgiveness because I know I do not deserve it. You guys have been so great to me throughout these months and when I think I started writing this in June and it is now December I just can't believe this. I feel like I've been writing this forever, which I guess I kind of have been. But hopefully it has accomplished it's goal in helping to distract you from the fact that we had to wait almost seven months for the next book. We are all on pins and needles awaiting the release date, and I intend to try to have this finished before the sixth. It should be a major challenge for me because classes are wrapping up and Christmas is approaching (Yay!), but I'm kind of determined. I hope that chapter 48 did not disappoint! 49 is in the works and I am expecting possibly another chapter after that. I hadn't quite decided yet, but I'm trying hard to give you guys an ending you deserve (and one that Vampire Academy deserves too!). Keep reviewing, because your reviews honestly, two hundred percent make all the difference. Much love to you all,**

**BelleCeline :)**


	49. Chapter 49

My heart was pounding against my chest in a frenetic lullaby, unlike anything I had ever experienced before, and the adrenaline that was pumping through my veins had me with a sharp, crystalline state of mind. The scene below me moved in slow motion: strigoi, guardians, and moroi alike moved with a grace and finesse I had never stopped to appreciate. My moment of clarity was short lived when I realized what had happened; The endorphins were putting up a good fight, but I still had enough presence of mind to turn around and swing my elbow up at Avery's face, delivering a blow to her nose. The jab distracted her just enough for her to step back to clasp her nose in her hands. I fell out of her reach, lightheaded, and extended my arm for my stake, which had dropped when she had tackled me. It was so close…just two steps down. I moved myself forward as much as I could, but Avery had me pinned. I knew she was advancing on me, and I didn't have to look to see that she would be pissed. I hadn't noticed it was raining until the thick gushes of water began to fall fast, obscuring my vision. The rain was making it hard to see, but I knew my stake was close. I stretched as far as I could, my fingers grazing against the cool metal.

At the same time that I touched the stake, Avery lunged, wrapping her fingers around my neck. She yanked my chin up just hard enough; She wasn't going to kill me. It was apparent that she wanted me with them. She wanted me to be turned, and so I would be turned. When she made a grab for me, she released me a little, and I was able to reach further. The stake was close to me, my fingers could touch it, but I just needed a little more leverage… I felt her breath as she pressed her fangs against my neck again, and the shock made me limp. The second wave of endorphins began to course through me, and I felt dizzy and weak. But I knew I had to push myself; I moved again, lowering myself down the steps the best I could, my hand closing over the stake. I didn't get a good grip on it with Avery still attached to my neck, but I slid it closer to me and picked it up.

Avery sank her fangs deeper into my flesh, and I could feel the heat of my own blood spreading out down my shoulder. I felt drained and exhausted; Avery pulled me closer to her, and I watched helplessly as my stake tumbled from my hand as my muscles relaxed. It ricocheted down the steps in the slowest possible manner, falling and bouncing from stone to stone, creating a path to the bottom. My vision went fuzzy, turning dark, as my breathing began to grow labored, slowing down. My heart was slowing down too, and all rational thought was beginning to evade me.

I slumped against Avery, comfortable and content, not worried about the blood that trickled down my neck, mixing in with the torrent of rain. It was an out of body experience if ever I had one. I felt myself floating above us, but I was still on the ground, leaning back against the strigoi. I watched her through weary eyes as she loosened her grip and shifted out from under me, letting me fall to the ground. My head smacked against the stone, but neither Avery or myself were very concerned by it. Undaunted, Avery brought her own wrist to her mouth and ran her fangs across it, drawing her own blood in deep rivulets. She watched it well up there with apparent fascination before bringing it to my lips.

Though I didn't feel as if I were bound to my body, I was clearly not omniscient. I did not notice Lissa's presence until Avery did. Lissa smacked her in the back of the head with all the force she could manage, drawing Avery away from me. I watched them through hooded eyes as they made toward eachother, Avery moving awkwardly but with all the speed in the world. Unfortunately for her, Lissa was much more graceful. It was a funny thing to watch at first, but then as my mental clarity began to return slowly, I realized what was going on. Lissa was attempting to stake Avery. Of course. She couldn't just snap her neck? She had to try and save her from the strigoi state she was in? I wondered whether Lissa knew that it would do Avery no good to be normal again, since her mind would still be gone, but that thought dissolved when I snapped back into myself, my mind focused on killing Avery.

I couldn't leave Lissa alone up here, but I had to get my stake. Avery needed to be disposed of. I stared down the steps, looking through the fat drops of rain at my stake on the ground. Lissa was a walking target, being a spirit user, but I was the reason Avery had been created. When Dimitri had been a strigoi he had been intent on changing me because he knew my skills would make me a very powerful strigoi. I knew that if I could get Avery's attention back on me, I could distract her from Lissa. Getting her attention didn't prove an easy feat though. I jumped at her, attempting to latch onto her back the way she had done to me. I was weak because of the lack of blood, but determination pushed me forward.

Avery did not seem the least bit deterred by my attack. Without a stake, what threat was I to her anyways? I could not decapitate her with my bare hands, and my stake was far away. Avery shrugged me off and I dropped to the ground, watching desperately as she sized Lissa up. "Lissa, give me the stake!" I called, looking from behind Avery to see Lissa, her blonde hair plastered to her face thanks to the rain. She always looked beautiful, even now, but the resemblance to an angel seemed to have disappeared. She no longer looked like a divine creature, but a haunted soul back from another world. Like me.

She shook her head without removing her eyes from Avery's, refusing to step down. Avery seemed to be pleased with the challenge. She laughed, stretching her arms out before her and dodging toward Lissa in a single move. The imagery was some kind of mix between a zombie and a child attempting to tickle a baby. I almost wanted to laugh, but in light of the circumstances, it seemed like a bad idea. I pulled myself up to my feet and jumped again, my arms closing around Avery's thin neck. I was able to hold onto her more tightly this time, and she attempted unsuccesfully to dislodge me. Lissa moved without hesitation, aiming for Avery's heart. Unfortunately, Lissa had not had nearly a fraction of the training I did, and she missed her mark, overcalculating. Avery shrieked as the metal poked into her skin, backhanding Lissa in the same instant. I dug my nails into Avery's skin, attempting to capture her attention as Lissa gathered herself and stood up.

Avery seemed to tire of the game, pulling out all the stops. She pushed me off of her with enough force to send me flying into the stone wall. I landed on the ground, breathless. I didn't let myself stay down, and I tried to maneuver myself into a sitting position, but all of a sudden the simple action seemed physically impossible. I grabbed a hold of the wall, clutching a groove from the natural stone, and pulled myself up on shaky arms. I looked away for only a second, but when I turned back Avery was ensconced in flames.

They were weak though, courtesy of the rain, barely enough to succeed in finishing her off. I looked up in time to see my stake flying through the air towards me. I reached up, ignoring the pain in my side, and caught it between my palms. Avery was just distracted enough that I had an opportunity for a hit. I got it to her chest, but my body did not seem to have enough strength to drive it home. Noticing the trouble I was having, Christian let the flames drop altogether and sprinted to my side to take over, pushing the stake deeper into her chest. Avery's face went through a display of emotions: shock, amusement, and then pain as Christian slowly sank the weapon deeper and deeper in her heart until her face went blank. Christian tore the stake from her chest and pushed her roughly to the ground, turning to help Lissa, who was already standing, coming toward me.

The two of them moved to my side, concerned. "Thanks." I told them, wincing as the word sent a quick pain through my side. Lissa grabbed my hands and, before I could stop her, she closed her eyes and began to heal me. I meant to protest, to tell her to save her magic for somebody who would really need it, but I was unable to force the words from my mouth. The magic felt warm and golden and sweet like honey, both within me and flowing through the bond. The pain in my side erased and Lissa stood, pulling me up with her.

"There are tons of them, Rose." Lissa said grimly, as if she were just reminding me. I nodded, looking down the steps at the swirl of action. Christian handed my stake back to me wordlessly.

"You aren't supposed to be here, Lissa. They're targeting you."

"Me?" Lissa asked, genuinely surprised. Sure, she had been targeted before. After all, once the strigoi got her they would have finished off the Dragomir blood line. Well, not anymore, thanks to Jill, but that had once been the misconception. Even with that kind of honor, Lissa found it hard to believe that they had stormed the court exclusively for her.

"Spirit users make strong strigoi. So do the shadow kissed. They're targeting criminals and psychos, too."

"Why?" Christian asked, his face dark. I noticed a scratch on his face, and the questioned flashed through my mind as to why Lissa hadn't yet healed that away.

"Criminals are desperate. They'll turn if they can just get a chance at freedom. And the mentally ill...they're in no position to refuse them. They don't even know what's going on. I can't tell you how many strigoi have laughed in my face as I was about to kill them. They don't even know what they are."

"_I_ don't even know what's going on." Christian said, looking down upon the people below them.

It felt like we were in some kind of time warp, unable to gather our thoughts and send our bodies into motion. Lightning forked through the sky, illuminating the fallen bodies, and I came to attention.

"Please go inside with the moroi, Lissa." I said, moving toward the steps.

"I'm helping, Rose." Lissa said stubbornly. "Christian and I are joining the war. You need us."

"I need you alive." I said lamely. I wanted to push more conviction into my voice, but I was beginning to feel drained.

"Take what you get, Hathaway." Christian said, heading for the steps. He began to descend, scoping out the hillside, looking for someone to attack. Lissa followed him, casting me a victorious look.

I knew it was a battle of the wills that I would not win. Lissa and Christian were both stubborn. I was too, but with everything that was going on, I could not find it in me to stand there and argue with them. My will was weakening. I only wanted to last til sunrise, to run the strigoi into their shelter, wherever that may be. I followed my friends, unable to think of anything good enough to stop them from trying to play hero. I would just have to stay with them, chaperone them and fight in a group to make sure that they stayed safe.

Christian attacked the first strigoi he saw, lighting him on fire. I wasn't sure whether he realized his elemental magic was not going to be enough to get him kills. As he looked over at me, I realized that was not the intent. He wanted me to stake them while he distracted them. I hesitated only briefly, not at all attracted by the idea of walking through flames. But they were relatively weak, and besides that, Lissa could heal away any burn marks later. They come first.

I bowed my head, looking at the ground, and charged through the fire, my stake heating up in my hands. The flames disappeared once I was in close proximal distance to the strigoi. As they began to dissolve into his clothes, he remained momentarily distracted. It gave me the moment I needed to stake him.

I lost track of my kills as we surged on, seeking out strigoi. We repeated the same pattern time after time. Lissa would draw the stirigoi's attention, even though it made me feel sick to use her as a sort of bait. Christian would light them up like a Christmas tree, and I would use their sudden distractions to my advantage. It felt endless and monotonous as I staked again and again, focusing on nothing but Lissa, Christian, and the strigoi. Christian seemed to be keeping track, announcing numbers after each strigoi crumpled to the wet Earth. He did not seem proud of the numbers he ticked off, but he announced them with a resigned tone, almost like a sigh. We were doing good. We were protecting the moroi, but it felt wrong. Even though the marks on my neck showed that I had killed countless strigoi, I had never killed so many as I did all in the course of that day. I caught a glimpse of Lissa's face after each staking, her pallor pale and ashy. She needed to be taken away from all of this, the chaos and destruction, but every time I asked her to take cover, her irritation with me grew. So, also, did her determination.

After what felt like hours but had probably been only forty minutes, Lissa was determined to get in on the action. She conceded that she had staked Dimitri before, and we all knew he was among the best. If she could do that, then by her logic, she could take out any of the strigoi here. Arguing was a moot point; All I could do was stick with her. It was not until one of the strigoi crept behind us and bit Christian on the neck that I believed her. Lissa reacted on such penultimate fury, turning around and jamming the stake right into the strigoi's chest in a fluid movement. When the strigoi collapsed onto the ground, I realized that Lissa's stake was just a normal one. She had not, as I thought, charmed it. She was not trying to bring them back, so much as prove herself a force to reckon with.

Christian refused to let Lissa heal away the puncture wounds, and while they argued- over that, I looked around. I had thought that things were bad before, but now it was truly beginning to dawn on me that the perfectly manicured lawn of the court had become a blood saturated battlefield. Around us, I could see plumes of fire spreading out across the grounds, torrents of water swirling through the air, rocks that seemed to be pelting out of the sky from nowhere. I could feel the gusts of wind that pushed them all along and realized that there must be many moroi out here. I looked around for the source, willing myself to see more than just the strigoi at arms, and was shocked by what I saw. "No." I whispered, caught between horrified and nauseated.

Jill stood off to the side, segregated from the battle physically, her mind completely engaged. With one hand she was creating the rain that drove the humans away from the battle, and with the other she was creating the air that moved violently against the strigoi, deterring them from their pursuit, stealing the air from around them just to make them slow. She was completely focused and intent; from where I stood she looked like some kind of patron saint of war, ready to put an end to this. The resemblance to Lissa was startling. But it was not Jill alone on the hillside that worked her magic; Jesse stood at her side, his face focused. I could not see what part he had in the attack, but I paid him no attention as I saw exactly what they were looking at.

Tasha was in the midst of all the action, casting fire to strigoi after strigoi, in some cases driving them back and in others strengthening their resolve. Jill was intentionally holding the area clear of her magic so that Tasha could get in a good, strong fire. "I'm going to help Jill." Lissa said, seemingly satisfied at having gotten her kill. I did not argue; I would much rather her stand up on the hill with Jill and Jesse than seek out strigoi for a fight.

"I'm going to help Aunt Tasha." Christian said. Their eyes locked and I knew they were going to kiss. I moved quickly away from them, down towards the battle. I moved past where Tasha stood, surrounded by a ring of strigoi. She could handle them all, and with Christian coming to help her she should be able to finish up soon. I wished she would go inside; She had a baby to worry about, after all. But I knew her too well. Tasha Ozera would not give up. It was simply not in her nature. I kept walking, not quite sure where I was headed or who I was looking for until I found him.

Adrian was removed from the battle, healing away scrapes, burns, and bite marks. There were several guardians sitting and laying on the slick grass, regrouping before joining the fray of battle. I saw my mother assisting them, doling out bottles of water and giving commands. Viktoria and Karolina were helping her, running around on her orders. Moroi were among the ranks of injured, though they seemed more shaken up then anything. "Where's Abe?" I asked, the only thing I could think to say.

"He's fighting." My mother answered without turning to look at me.

I snorted, unable to help myself. My mind was at wits end. "He's fighting and you're here?"

"Rose." Adrian's tone was stern and gentle at the same time. Looking at him, my walls fell down. He was sweaty and dirty, looking more exhausted then I had ever seen him.

"I need to talk to you." I did not know what I had to say to him. There was plenty I wanted to say, but I could not figure out which was the most important. Adrian looked at me stonily, but my mother's voice spurred him on.

"Go ahead, Lord Ivashkov. I have everything under control here." Still she did not turn, she was so absorbed with whatever she was doing. Adrian looked slightly resigned, but he followed me anyways. The chapel was just a few feet away, and so I led him there into one of the small rooms.

"Adrian, I'm sorry-"

"Please, Rose. It's not important."

"It is." I said stubbornly. "I'm in love with you. But I also love Dimitri."

"This isn't the time." Adrian said, his voice cold. He made a move for the door, but I stopped him, looking up at him imploringly.

"Don't leave me." My voice sounded desperate to my own ears, but it must not have sounded that way to Adrian. He shook his head slowly, and I did the first thing I could think of to stop him. I kissed him.

It was soft and sweet, a show of our genuine love. And then it turned into something more: insistent tugging at clothes, nonsense mutterings, and passion lighting up like fire. Lust took over , finishing what love had started, until we stopped moving, looking at eachother deeply. I loved him. And I loved Dimitri. The answer to all my woes was obvious to me now. I kissed him again, getting up and finding my clothes. I did not care that I had just defiled a church. I did not care that I had ditched the battle. I did not care that I had just somehow betrayed Dimitri. I had spent my whole life looking after others, and now it was time to take my life back for myself. Nothing had ever felt more right.

"I love you." I told him truthfully. "And I still love Dimitri. I think that fate has decided to hate us three for some reason. Any choice I make is going to hurt. But the only fair choice is the one I'm going to take."

Adrian stood up and wrapped me in his arms. He understood me well. He knew what I was going to do. "If you go, I'll follow you."

"Your life is here. At court."

"My life is where you go." He was determined.

I shook my head softly. "I've never known anything other than this life. I need to get away. You, Dimitri, Lissa...I love you all, but I need something less. I need something different. I don't expect you to understand, but-"

"I understand." Adrian said quietly, watching me with those penetrating green eyes. "But I don't want to. That makes it easier to be mad at you."

"I'm sorry, Adrian." I could think of nothing more, but I was spared from having to fill the silence with nothingness when a streak of fear curled out to me from the bond. I threw my shirt back on quickly and moved out the door. I was across the groundws in a flash, at Lissa's side as she clutched onto Christian weakly.

"What's wrong?" I demanded as I looked at them, assessing the situation. Christian was standing, and though Lissa was slumping a little I could tell that she was not hurt.

Lissa turned to me slowly, her face streaked with tears. "I'm sorry, Rose." She choked before absolving into sobs. She wrapped herself back in Christian's arms, burying her face in his shirt. I probed the bond on instinct, looking for answers, but Lissa's mind was too jumbled to give me an answer. I turned to Christian, who looked cold and grim.

"What's going on?"

Christian swallowed, and I was sure he would rather be anywhere but here. I was sure he did not want to tell me what I wanted to know. "Rose...Dimitri's dead."

I watched his face intently, waiting for it to absolve into a wicked grin. I waited for him to say he was just joking. But when Lissa turned to look at me, I saw the truth. I saw more than I wanted. Alberta lunging and grabbing for him. Dimitri was so fast, but she had been faster...she turned his own stake against him. I closed my eyes, trying to shut off the bond. I didn't want to see this.

But it would not stop. Images surged to me, clips of action, whispers of last words. No. I put my hands to my ears, trying to block it off. Stop. I thought, over and over again, the word growing in volume each time I thought it until I realized I wasn't just thinking it anymore. I was screaming it. "Stop!" I roared, looking at Lissa angrily. I wanted her mind to shut off the connection to mine. I didn't need to see this. Lissa was shaking her head, the tears rolling down her face. Christian wrapped her closer to him, like he could protect her. "Stop! Stop! _Stop_!" Every last bit of energy I had poured into that sentence, leaving me deflated. But, like magic, it stopped. The bond went numb, and the only pain that I felt was my own.

Lissa looked at me in shock, her lips slightly parted. Though she had never been able to feel me through the bond, she could sense that something had just changed. I didn't stick around to discuss the details with her, though. Something divine led me to Dimitri, back by the makeshift camp my mother had set up. A crowd had gathered, and I knew he was there. I pushed my way through them, ignoring Viktoria who was on her knees, pulling at her hair. Somebody had grabbed Karolina and pulled her back from him, and she was screaming and kicking. I barely registered Abe's voice trying to calm her, because my eyes fell on Dimitri.

His face was still beautiful, but the hole in his shirt and the puncture in his chest through which blood had spilled out distracted from his beauty. Were it not for that, I'd have thought him to be alseep. My throat wa sraw and swollen, and I wanted to fall to my knees by Viktoria and continue to scream, to cry. I wanted to tear up the grass, to kick, and to kill someone.

I turned and ran. My mother's voice and Abe's carried after me, calling out my name like a hopeless prayer. I ignored them, running on, seeking out destruction. The horizon was just beginning to twinge orange, and I knew I did not have much time until the strigoi left. Earlier I had just wanted to fight them off until sunrise. Now I was going to fight them all, until they were dead or until I was.

The army that had stormed the gates had dwindled. The number of bodies that lay on the ground were proof. There were not many left; Only the best of them had survived til now. They would be following their orders, trying to take over the castle. I doubled back to where the battle had begun and found what I had anticipated. A small ring of strigoi clustered on the lawn, seemingly in some kind of meeting. I counted seven of them. Alberta's curly head stuck above the rest; my target. I moved forward, only to be tackled to the ground.

I did not look at who had landed on top of me, but I threw the strongest left hook I had ever managed. The reaction that elicited was not that of a strigoi's. Eddie jumped to his feet, grabbing me by the collar of my shirt. He dragged me back into the cover provided by a row of trees and I noticed that we were not alone. Four others stood around us, wet, burned, and dirty, but their faces fixed with such hard resolve I felt like they might attack me in their blood lust.

"There are six of us. Seven of them. We can attack, but we have to move quickly. You almost ruined that, Rose." Eddie said briskly, looking at me sharply. He was all business now. "Those are the last of them. If we get them all, it's over. Run faster than you've ever run in your life, and do not slow down for anything!"

Everyone nodded. I looked at Eddie, grateful for his leadership even if I didn't want to listen to him. "Alberta's mine." I said, my voice a low growl. "The one with the curly hair." I looked at the faces of the others, recognizing them all as guardians. They had all been trained by her. They all knew who she was. "If any of you go after her, I'll kill you myself."

I hadn't even known what I was saying until it had come out, but the words rolled smoothly off my tongue. No one seemed to doubt the truth of my words. No one was going to challenge me. Eddie clapped his hands and we straightened up, like a football team breaking from a huddle. His nod signaled us to run.

The rest of the world seemed to fall away from me like cardboard scenery, leaving me and Alberta. I ran for her, more focused on killing her than anything I had ever focused on. The strigoi noticed our presence while we ran for them, but they did not run to meet us. Instead they held their ground until we reached them. I was in the lead, and so several of the strigoi lashed out for me. I dodged them, surprising them when I didn't fight back. Alberta seemed to know that I was going exclusively for her. She waited until I was close, and then moved into a defensive position, eying me shrewdly.

"Are you out for vengeance, Hathaway? You found out I killed your lover boy, did you?"

I stared at her, refusing to let her trick me with her words. She was not going to distract me from the task at hand.

"You're smart, Rose, and the best guardian in your class. You would make a fine strigoi."

"The Alberta I knew would not say that."

Alberta smiled, and the illusion was almost real. "I'm the same Alberta. Just better. I'm faster. I'm stronger. You can't imagine how great this feels."

"Yeah." I said, carelessly. "But I can imagine how this feels." I jumped out at her, swiping her with my stake. She grimaced as it skimmed across her skin, leaving a light red scratch.

She looked at me with something like admiration. "You are a monster, Rose. A machine."

"You're the monster." I said, glancing at her feet to make sure she wasn't about to move.

"Me? Because I kill?" I didn't answer her, sneaking a glance at the horizon. The sun was beginning to sneak into the sky. Alberta laughed. "So do you. You've killed many today. I heard the Ozera kid say something like twelve. And then you alone have killed at least nine. Your friends, too. " I took my second chance, lunging out at her again. I scratched her across the face, this time a deeper wound. Alberta straightened, looking cold with determination. "We came today with over a hundred. And this is what remains. You guys have killed our people. How are you any different?"

"We don't kill the innocent." I said through gritted teeth. I glanced surreptitiously out of the corner of my eye at the sun. It was just beginning to peek out from over the hills in the distance.

"Don't you? Not all of those strigoi turned themselves. Some of them were created by others. They were innocent people."

"Once upon a time." I said dryly, making my third mark. Alberta grabbed my wrist, throwing me aside. The scratch on her shoulder had torn through her shirt and was deep enough to bring blood bubbling to the surface. She looked at me now in an almost controlled fury.

"Perhaps I was wrong. I've given you three chances and you haven't even come close to my heart. Maybe you aren't a good guardian at all." Her lips twisted into a cruel little smile as she taunted me. I shook myself from her grip and scratched her again on the neck. Instead of retreating that time, I swiped her again and ran out onto the other side of her. She was furious as she advanced toward me. I got her once again, right down the leg, and she grabbed me with one hand, lifting my feet off the ground. She brought her face close to mine, so that I could see all the lines of her face. The red-ringed eyes spurred me to strike out again, leaving one last cut down her face. Her nails dug into my neck. "Alright, Hathaway. You've asked for it. I'll make it slow." She plucked the stake from my hand and threw it as far as she could. Alberta threw me to the ground, stealing the air from my lungs. I couldn't move, but I felt triumph begin to steel over me as I looked at the cuts I had made on her face. I smiled. "What are you smiling for?"

"I wasn't trying to get your heart." I said, watching the shadows disappear from her face as the sun slid into place in the sky. Alberta looked up at it and realized her mistake too late. She screamed, a blood curdling cry that ripped from her throat. She tried to move for cover, but Eddie cut her off, stepping in front of her with his stake in his hand. She backed away from him, further out into the light of day, and the scream continued to issue from somewhere within her even as she fell to her knees. She turned black, her body charring, and the awful sound died as she stopped moving. A gust of wind blew at her, scattering the charred ashes into the wind until nothing of Alberta remained.

Eddie offered me a hand, helping me up into a sitting position. He was saying something to me, but I wasn't paying attention. I looked around, watching the bodies of strigoi turn black under the sun's sharp rays. I understood that the bodies that remained were those of guardians, moroi, or humans. Eddie talked to me, but I did not hear a word he said. I tried to tune into his chatter, but I felt like somebody had hit the mute button. I couldn't hear a single thing, until I heard my own name. I looked up, seeing Viktoria come running toward me. Eddie pulled me to my feet and gave me a hug, but I didn't return it. I was watching Viktoria, who was running at me with a look of relief on her face.

When she was closer I saw that tears were still making their way down her face. She threw her arms around me in a bear hug. I didn't register the pain that I felt as she squeezed me, pressing on my bruised bones and ribs. She was saying something, but I could not process what it was. It took me only a moment to realize that it was Russian. I focused, thinking about what I had learned during my sojourn to Baia. I didn't need to think too hard, though, because Viktoria clarified for me, in English. "He's alive!"

I pulled away from her, looking at her tear-soaked face, dazed. I realized the tears were of joy, the excitement on her face because of the news she was delivering to me. "What?" I managed.

"Dimitri. He's alive, Rose! He's here." She grabbed my hand and began to lead me toward the place that I had last seen him, his beautiful eyes empty and his strong face smoothed down with defeat.

"No." I said, not allowing myself to believe it. Eddie grabbed me around the side and slung my arm over his shoulder as we walked. Viktoria let go of me, too excited to think properly.

"It's true, Rose. He's back."

I shook my head, feeling sorrow for Viktoria. She was so struck by grief that she wasn't thinking normally. She must be hallucinating. Yet, as they led me up to where I had last seen them, I realized Viktoria wasn't the one hallucinating. It must have been me. I must have hit my head. Maybe I had died and gone to heaven. That was just stupid, of course. As if I would actually ever get into heaven.

Dimitri still lay on the ground, a group of people around him. But his eyes were no longer vacant and hollow. I watched from his feet as his chest moved, expanding with the breath he took into his lungs. I edged closer to him, still afraid to believe it. The blood was still on his chest, but the hole was gone.

"Dimitri?" I asked, looking at him unsteadily. Dimitri's eyes flickered to me and when they connected a thousand things seemed to pass between us. He pushed himself to sit up and kissed me gently. "You're really here. You were never gone." I felt like crying, but my eyes wouldn't allow it.

"I was gone, Roza." He murmured, his voice soft. "I went to the other side."

I shook my head, chancing a smile. I couldn't believe this, but he hadn't disappeared yet. This must be reality. "Then how are you here?" I laughed, attempting to stave off the tears.

A shadow seemed to pass over Dimitri's face and I didn't understand the meaning of it until I noticed that everyone had grown silent. I looked around, wondering why the sudden quiet. Everybody avoided my gaze. "What is it?" I asked, looking at Abe for an answer. He swallowed visibly, looking at my mother for assistance. "Mom?"

"I'm sorry, Rose."

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I was tired of hearing that. I needed to know what was going on. Nothing came to me from the bond, and so I looked around for Lissa and found her standing near the edge of the group with Christian at her side. Jill stood with them, Jesse's arm wrapped around her as silent tears rolled down her face. "Lissa..." I said coldly. I was scared. Were they going to tell me I was dead? That this was a dream? He wasn't actually here? Was I crazy? Had I actually been executed for killing the queen, and this was just some sort of after-life? I needed answers, and I knew that Lissa was going to give them to me. She moved to my side and the crowd parted in two, giving me a clear view of what lay on the other side. Or rather, who.

Adrian looked like an angel that had fallen from heaven with his dark hair falling away from his pale face. His eyes were closed, his face smooth. I stared at him, my heart pounding, and took a step closer. My feet gave out from under me and I fell down next to him, reaching for his hand. It was cold like ice beneath mine. I shook my head, refusing to believe this all. It was a dream. A rotten, horrible dream.

"I'm sorry."

I wasn't sure who said it, but I ignored it altogether, squeezing Adrian's hand. But he did not squeeze it back. He did not open his eyes or smile at me. He did not move at all. He simply lay there, cold and empty. A flood of tears made it's way past my defenses and I let them loose, my throat burning and my eyes swelling as they cascaded from my lashes down.

"I'm sorry." This time, it was me speaking. I looked at him, wishing he would come back. But I couldn't have them both. I was going to give them both up. That had been the plan. But Adrian hadn't wanted that. He had known I wouldn't choose, and so he chose for me.

I apologized to him over and over again, knowing there was no way he could forgive me for this. I was vaguely aware that someone sat down next to me and pulled me into their arms. I turned into Abe's chest and let loose, crying like a lost little girl on her daddy's shoulder.

A/N: 1 M ORRRRRRE. WILL POSSSSSST TOMORROW. rEVIEW PLEASE:) P.S KEYBOARRRRRRD bROKEN :(


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